Prompts and Drabbles
by littlestrick
Summary: An outlet for two-bite stories about characters in Enchancia. Heavily weighted towards Cedfia but not them exclusively. We'll see where this goes!
1. Chapter 1: Intro

This is a story that will be a collection of short prompts and drabbles. I feel like I need a little pallet cleanse while I'm working on Give Me Your Riches and I think this will be my fix. I reserve full rights to use what I write here in other stories or to branch off to other ideas (I have two very strong, bigger story bunnies that I will be pursuing. I think you'll like them. But all in good time). These prompts will not necessarily be related. I will post Sofia's age at the top of each story (assuming she's in it. If it's another character, I'll indicate that as well). I'm striving to keep each one under 500 words.

As always, reviews, responses, and constructive criticisms are very welcome.

These two-bite stories will be posted without a beta reader.

Happy reading!


	2. Chapter 2: Splash

Splash  
 _nine years old_

Sofia's eyes were cartoonishly large behind the giant cauldron she was trying to haul across the room. She had tried magic to move it but the spell she could cast wasn't strong enough to lift it. The ruined potion inside looked like bright purple water but gave off a most offensive brine-like odor and was remarkably heavy. It had been her mistake. One lacewing too many had mucked it up beyond repair. Sofia couldn't remember the spell to vanish it away and so she was trying to move the vessel across the room to the window to keep the tower from soaking in the stench. She had kicked off her shoes to lift the cauldron from the workbench. Her knees nearly buckled under the weight but she persevered. She would succeed. She would make it!

And then the door opened beside her, bumping her elbow and sending the cauldron to the floor. The impact sent a splash of liquid catapulting into the air before raining down. She covered her face and prepared for the impact - who knew what exact effects a ruined potion could have on a person. Strangely enough, Sofia didn't feel a drop of the liquid. She opened her eyes to find Mr. Cedric's sorcerer's robe hovering over her and Mr. Cedric, protecting them from the potion.

Sofia stared up at him with wide eyes, waiting to see how he would react to her misstep. He gazed down at her, eyebrows furrowed and opened his mouth to speak, likely to yell, when a bright purple bird with a voluminous, gloriously long and glittered feathered tail accompanied by Wormwood's complaining squawk came to rest between them. A giggle escaped Sofia's lips and she immediately clapped her hands over her mouth. Until Cedric started to chuckle. And before she knew it they were both rolling with laughter while Wormword asked again and again what could possibly be so funny.


	3. Chapter 3: Red

Red  
 _nineteen years old_

"Amber, let me go!" Sofia complained, pulling against Amber's vice-like grip on her wrist as they rounded a corner outside the great hall. Amber stopped and pulled Sofia close to her, her lips pressing against Sofia's ear.

"You have a _bright red spot_ on the top of your breast that I can see when you curtsey."

Sofia felt her face flush an equally bright red.

"You need to change and then you need to tell me exactly what's going on." Her tone brokered no arguing as she started down the hall again, dragging a muttering Sofia behind her.

Despite Amber's prodding, Sofia didn't say a word (though she did think a silent prayer that all other possessive marks were much harder to spot with her undergarments still on). Amber selected a high necked gown for Sofia to slip into, but not before she re-tied Sofia's corset in an act that felt much more like punishment than helpfulness. Sofia could only take short, shallow breaths as the sky-blue gown settled around her hips. Amber glared into Sofia's eyes. Sofia blinked once and forced a small smile.

"Thank you for helping me."

"And yet you still aren't telling me _who_ gave you those. Which can only mean that you're ashamed-"

"I'm not ashamed!"

"Then tell me who it is."

Sofia worked her mouth soundlessly before shutting it and embracing the look of confident resolve that washed over her face. "You're going to want to sit down. You're not going to be happy."

Amber crossed her arms and remained standing. "I don't see why your happiness with Cedric should make me unhappy."

"It's - wait, you-y-you know it's Cedric?"

Her smile was smug, her eyes knowing. "Well _now_ I do."


	4. Chapter 4: Morning Table

**A/N: This is inspired by cedfiafics's "Offer Your Throat to the Wolf." It got my brain going - the first chapter is incredibly gripping. Go give it a read**.  
 **And on a personal aside - I'm loving doing this. I can actually produce something while my toddler naps - she's sensitive to sound when she sleeps so I can never do any chores. Fortunately the click-clack of my keyboard seems to be a non-issue. :)**

Morning Table  
 _fifteen years old_

"You aren't eating."

Her response was the sound of rattling chains as Sofia lifted her arms in the air so show her restraints. Cedric moved his right hand from where itt rested subconsciously against his chest, pressing the Amulet of Avalor against his skin under his doublet. He waved his hand once in the air and the chains vanished. Sofia rubbed her hands around her wrists, the skin irritated but not raw, and then schooled her hands to her lap.

"Please eat," he implored, her overly thin frame making him uncomfortable. Her eyes, petulant and fiery, met his from across the long table in the great hall where she had spent so many mornings in her former life. Keeping his eyes, she lifted her spoon and dove into the oatmeal bowl before her. Instead of bringing the utensil to her mouth, she held it to the side and let it splatter to the floor beside her, followed by the clattering sound of the spoon as it hit the floor as well. The sound echoed through the stagnant hall.

"You need to eat."

"Tell me where my family is."

"Sofia-"

"I won't eat until I know, your majesty," she said with a bite Cedric wished she would reserve for food instead of him.

He looked at her helplessly before speaking in a whisper that barely carried across the hall, "I will not tell you."

Sofia pushed back from the table, the legs of her chair scraping against the floor. She walked, barefooted, to the door of the hall and knocked twice. She held out her arms to be manacled again by the guard at the door who led her away.

Cedric watched her go for the third morning in a row. At least she touched the spoon this time. He was determined to bring her up to the table, his table, again the next morning and every morning after that until she ate. Though it was becoming clear that he would ultimately be required to force her to eat in order to keep her alive. Stubborn girl. But he couldn't watch her, of all people, waste away and he couldn't bare to tell her what she wanted to know. How could he, when the deaths of her family came, albeit indirectly, from his own hand?

Cedric lifted his fork and put it back down. He had no appetite. Not now. Not since that day. And not likely ever again. But he picked up his fork again and ate anyway.

Someone had to protect Sofia. He didn't deserve the job, but who was left?


	5. Chapter 5: Up

Up  
 _ten years old_

Man was never meant to fly. At least not without the support of something reliable like magic or something that lacked feelings and personal impulses like machines. Beasts with wings were abhorrent and should only be observed, respectfully, from a distance.

And so how did Cedric find himself at a flying derby race, of all things? Well, how was it that he ever found himself doing things he resisted? A blue-eyed girl who radiated sunshine from every inch of her being begged him so sweetly to see his championship race. Nothing could mean more to her than his presence there and so he sat, tucked away in the Royal box behind the King and Queen and Princess Amber while trying desperately not to bite his nails in anxiety.

She was so high. That purple horse was taking her higher and higher and higher and, Merlin's forsaken mushrooms, even higher. He was leaning over the railing of the box - when had he stood up? - to keep her in his sights. How was this allowed for children? It wasn't safe. Cedric knew, he _knew_ something was going to go wrong.

He had never so hated being right.

She was falling. Sofia had fallen out of her saddle and was plummeting from the sky. Chaos surrounded him. Cedric couldn't panic. He didn't have the time for that. Sofia didn't have the time for that. He drew his wand and felt his mouth move and magic run through him, through his conduit of a wand, and shoot to the ground below Sofia, softening it just in time for her impact. And then he was running. Running to her side and shouting orders. This authoritative creature took him over and informed people of where to go and what to do.

She was fine. She was fine. She had to be fine. Of course she was fine. He was at her side and she was awake and groaning and not moving her left arm but she was fine. He was there and she smiled weakly at him as he scooped her up in his arms and took her from the field and hell if he would ever let her near a flying horse again.


	6. Chapter 6: Out My Door

**A/N: The thing about drabbles - sometimes it's like pulling teeth ("Up") and other times I blink and the material is there - see below. :)**

Out My Door  
 _eighteen years old_

"Please. Please, Cedric." Sofia begged, gasping between sobs. "Please don't do this." Her face was a mass of emotions in contrast to Cedric's stoic one. He had her overly flounced gown across his arms. He carried it ceremoniously to his door and opened it, dropping it to the floor below the gargoyles. Sofia followed behind him, weeping, pleading.

"Out," he said tonelessly.

"No. _No_!" she roared. "I'm not leaving. I'm standing my ground." Her lip quivered but she was true to her word. She stood straight as a rail in her slip and pride and nothing else. Cedric's sorcerer's robe draped across his shoulders like armor framing his bare chest. His eyes met hers but they were vacant. Absent.

His silence was staggering.

"If you would just listen to me, ple-"

"Out."

She refused to move. After a few stagnant moments, Cedric stepped towards her and put his hand on her back, Sofia was stirred to a new cascade of tears as she curled against his chest, overtaken with relief from his comfort. His feet were moving again and so were hers. In the space of a breath he was gone, she was cold, and the door was shut with them on separate sides.

"No no no no no no NO!" Sofia pounded the door with her fist and shouted, not caring how much noise she made. She thrust her weight against the door and pushed with all of her strength. It didn't budge. She slid down against the unwelcoming wood. A puddle of misery on the floor, she pressed her cheek and palm against the door and continued to plead. He was still there. She could see his shadow under the door. He stayed there, listening to her, unmoving, unrelenting.

Unforgiving.


	7. Chapter 7: Breakfast

**A/N: This definitely exceeded my word count goal but writing it flowed really nicely and turned out so sweet. Enjoy!**

Breakfast  
 _sixteen years old_

Cedric distantly heard the door to his tower creak open. He groaned as the sound disrupted him, sweet sleep slipping again out of his grasp. How many days had it been, now? Three? Four? Too many.

"Go away," he said in a low, slow moan from under his pillow. His magic, unchecked in his current state, rattled the tower causing several books to fall to the ground and the candles to flicker out leaving nothing but sparse natural light to illuminate the room. He only knew this because someone unabashedly threw his bedroom door open and the light streamed in to interrupt his dark vigil.

Cedric was too exhausted to summon up the real outrage that he felt at someone entering his chambers uninvited. He pushed up on his elbows and prepared an acerbic statement that was replaced, instead, with a fit of coughs that sent him forward, curling his spine against the world. Small hands traced calming circles against his back. He looked up, startled.

"You have...to leave…" he wheezed between fits of coughs. He wanted to shirk away from her hands, to send her out of the room so he wouldn't infect her. But he found he didn't have the strength to fight against her offered comfort.

"And you have to eat," Sofia cooed softly before taking on a more stern tone. "I have a bowl of broth here for breakfast and you're going to drink the entire thing before I leave."

"I'll get...you sick…" His breathing was starting to even out again. He managed to look Sofia in the eye, his frown the predominate feature in his sickly pale and drawn face.

"I've already had Red Rattles," she smiled patiently at him. "You can't get me sick. Now don't move for a moment while I rearrange your pillows so you can sit back and still eat."

He obliged her order. He didn't have the strength to protest her commands. Pillows successfully rearranged, she sat beside him on the bed, facing the headboard. She placed a hand on his chest and held the back of his head with her other hand, gently guiding him back into the pillows. A cool cloth appeared across his forehead and moments later he found himself slowly slurping soup from a spoon held steady by Sofia.

"It's been three days since you caught the fever," she filled the silence softly, so as to not agitate his surely aching head. "Your magic has been a bit out of control due to it. Wormwood and I only just figured out how to break into the tower so I sent for some broth immediately. It's very important that you eat it all, M-C-Cedric. You have to restore your strength."

He had only recently requested that she drop the "mister." She was his best friend. It seemed so strange to require that formality when she was so dear to him and very nearly an adult. She only agreed to the change if he would call her just Sofia, at least when they weren't in the public eye.

Like here and now.  
Alone.  
In his bed.

Startled by his own train of thought, Cedric tried to sit up and failed as Sofia pushed him back down.

"Stay down, please."

"You - you're in my room."

"Yes."

"You have to go."

"No. Not until you finish eating."

"It isn't, it's not - appropriate. It's not appropriate."

"Neither is you dying of starvation because I'm the only one in the castle who has had Red Rattles before." Her expression softened. "No one thinks anything untoward is going on, Cedric. The only untoward thing that could happen would be you getting worse because you sent me away and forbade me to take care of you. After everything you've done for me...Please just let me try and repay the favor."

Cedric knew, at that point, he was feverish, because Sofia was making perfect sense. He relaxed into his pillows and accepted more broth. At some point, the bowl was empty but Sofia stayed. She kept the cloth across his forehead cool and held his hand in comfort, tracing the arcane marks he was teaching her across the back of his palm with her thumb. He hadn't known care like this since he was a child under his mother's thumb. It was addicting and needed and healing in its own little way. She started to tell him a story about a scared little girl in a big new world and how she saw more good in a sorcerer than he saw in himself until the sound of Sofia's voice faded away and Cedric finally slept.


	8. Chapter 8: Comfort

**A/N: This one really spoke to me, for some reason. I've got some great images in my head for the continuation of the story. I think I'm going to come back to it and turn it into a sexy little one-shot. But I wanted to post this much anyway :)**

Comfort  
 _twenty-one years old_

"Well what are you going to do about this?" The little witch stood in front of Cedric. He barely recognized her without her pointed hat. The gown Amber had selected for her was flattering, but it made the young woman look closer to a courtly powder puff than a witch. Her hair, dark and wild, was the only thing that allowed him to identify who she was.

Cedric was sitting beside the fountain in the gardens, surrounded by the sounds of cleaning up as tables from the reception were cleared and servants chatting softly amongst themselves. The sky was a startlingly clear blue, the air warm with a cool, occasional breeze. It was a perfect early summer day and somehow Cedric was still sitting under a figurative raincloud.

Fingers snapped right in front of his nose. "Hello? Mr. Sensational? Anybody home in there?"

Cedric looked up at Lucinda, face glum. "What do you want?"

"Why are you sitting out here?"

"I missed it. It's over. I'm…"

" _Mourning,_ " he thought, but couldn't say aloud. The little witch had the audacity to laugh right in his face.

"You unobservant fool." She moved behind him and put her hands on the sides of his face, squishing his cheeks together as she moved his head to face the multi-tiered cake. "Look at that sugar monstrosity." Cedric tried to shrug out of her hands but her grip was strong. " _Look_ at it."

"What do you want me to see?!" he snapped, hurt and sorrow and anger flaring as he turned to look at the witch instead of the cake. "It's a wedding cake!"

She quirked one eyebrow, her eyes alight with entertainment. "An _uncut_ wedding cake."

Cedric felt his mouth gape open slightly.

"He left her, Mr. Sensational. She never wanted him anyway, not really, but she's hurt and embarrassed and won't see anyone. She needs comfort. She needs _you_ but the two of you are both too dense to see it so I thought I'd intervene."

Cedric wasn't aware of how he got from the gardens to Sofia's bedroom door, but he knew he must have been running as he panted, out of breath. He was vaguely aware of the little witch shooting him a knowing smile from down the hall as she pulled out her wand and waved it around, causing Sofia's door to open and then close and magically lock with him on the inside. He could distantly hear her cackling as she walked back down the hall as Cedric turned his attention to the broken bride curled into her childhood windowseat.

She was there. He was there. Chance was there.


	9. Chapter 9: Love

Love  
 _twenty-something_

The sky was dark and threatening, allowing no natural light to stream into the hall despite the mid-afternoon hour. Violet paced outside the double doors at the end of hallway, clutching a corner of her apron between her hands. She had never been comfortable with this, never comfortable with all of the changes that came about immediately after. But who was she to question things like that? It wasn't her place. She could only help as much as her station allowed, though her station might not have allowed what she did.

Lightning flashed, thunder immediately roared, Violet jumped and the click of determined heels filled the hall. She dropped her apron back into place, already missing its comfort, and drew herself up as tall as she could stand as the King walked down the hall with alacrity. He had always been so unassuming before, Violet had hardly noticed him. But now, with regal posture and determination, he was impossible not to notice. His traveling cloak billowed out behind him as his long gate ate up the hallway before him. He stopped in front of Violet, who curtsied and kept her head bowed.

"Thank you," he said in an almost imperceptible whisper, "for calling me."

"Yes, your Majesty." He reached for the door, but Violet's hand beat him to it. She looked up at him and paled as his eyes narrowed at her.

"What are you doing?"

"All due respect, your Majesty, you can't go in. I-it's not a man's place."

Violet was certain that he grew three feet taller in that instant as he took a step towards her, looming over her. She trembled in his presence and cursed herself as she stepped aside, unable to guard the door against _him_. Blessedly, he didn't spare her a second look after she stepped aside and he opened the door and stepped in the room.

Violet could see Sofia's eyes light up when she saw her King before another pain of contraction had her eyes shut tight as she screamed through the agony. Tears and sweat were already streaming down her face from her efforts and, in a minute, she was given a brief respite and fell back into her pillows. She turned her head to her King, her lover, as he stood frozen by the door.

"I still don't forgive you," she said, gulping in deep breaths.

"I know." Violet couldn't see his face, but she could hear the sorcerer, not the King, in his voice this time.

"Especially now," she let out a bitter laugh as she started to clutch at the sheets around her, preparing for the next round of pain.

Lightning flashed again, followed much more distantly by thunder. Sofia held out her hand and Cedric was beside her in an instant, taking her hand in his. He was far enough from the door that Violet almost missed his next words.

"I still love you."

Violet, knowing her place was outside of this private moment, began to close the door.

Sofia sucked air in between her teeth in a hiss of pain, her grip tightening around his hand. "I know," she cried, wincing, "I love you, too."

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 **A/N: This ending feels like a bit of a cop-out to me, as it's a rather angsty little drabble. I wanted to channel Sofia's inner Han Solo but it ultimately didn't feel right, not in the high-emotional state that is giving birth. You see, she DOES love him. That doesn't mean this story gives them a happily ever after.  
I imagined that Sofia married Cedric and that happy union happened to coincide with the Royal family vanishing/dying/etc. Something happened to make Sofia blame Cedric on some level, after they've conceived this child, and they separate. Sofia refuses to see him. But when Sofia goes into labor, Violet (because chamber maids know EVERYTHING) knows Sofia wants him there, know she still loves him, calls Cedric and this is the first Cedric hears that Sofia is pregnant at all! dun dun dunnnnn!**


	10. Chapter 10: Yellow

Yellow  
 _twenty-something_

"Oh. It's you."

Cedric opened the door to the Manor to find Amber on his doorstep in a dark blue gown, a wide-brimmed hat, and a pair of those darkened glasses that had become some kind of trend. He had to bite his tongue to refrain from saying what he _wanted_ to say in response to her bitingly deflated response to his presence and instead tried to say something more like what his wife would say.

"And a true delight to see you as well." The sarcasm dripped from his tongue. Well, he did say he would _try_ to sound more like Sofia, not necessarily that he would _succeed_ at doing it. "How might I help you, Your Majesty?"

"I was looking for Sofia." Her words were curt yet unhurried. But Cedric was able to notice the fingers on her left hand anxiously strumming against her skirts, not to mention the fact that she was favoring a hat over her most royal crown that she took such pride in wearing. Something was off with her slightly slouched posture.

"It's a bit early to come calling, don't you think? I can't speak for you, but I tend to relish in these early morning hours when my children are sleeping as there is such precious little time to be alone." The trap was laid. A perfect opportunity for a less-than-subtle dig at his surely sub-par paternal disposition. Exactly the kind of dig that Amber tended to sink her perfectly manicured claws into.

"Is she asleep, or…?" Amber trailed off her sentence, ignoring the bait. Yes, something certainly was wrong.

"I'm afraid she's indisposed at the moment. The baby kept her up all night and I'm remiss to wake her up while she gets the sleep he lets her take." His words were chosen carefully as he considered the young Queen before him, taking his time to speak so he could watch her closely. Her disappointment was almost imperceptible: a slight toward turn at the corners of her lips and a tiny furrow of her eyebrow.

"Of course. I didn't realize the hour. I apologize." All crisp lines again, Amber turned to go.

"Amber," he said, familiarity and a touch of kindness ringing out in his voice. "Wait." He reached out and grabbed her arm and she visibly flinched before tearing her arm out of his grasp. With her other hand, she ripped the dark glasses off of her face and glared up into Cedric's eyes.

"Do. Not. Touch me!" She was nearly shouting, a flash of anger hiding panic behind eyes that were surrounded by a yellowing bruise. Cedric, for his part, had pulled his arm back to his side. Shock ran through him at the sight of the bruise and the pieces of the puzzle Amber had unwittingly presented him with came tumbling together. He held his hands in front of him, both clearly visible to the Queen as she realized that her glasses were no longer balanced on her nose. "...oh," she breathed, bringing her free hand to delicately touch the exposed bruise.

"Come inside, Amber." All harshness had been shed from Cedric's words. His words were gentle instructions to help her find shelter in his home. Their constant dislike of one another was no match for the very real problem written across Amber's face. Cedric was surprised to find a protective instinct swell to life inside his chest at his sister-in-law's pain. He stepped back into his home and held the door open wider so she could numbly walk inside. "I'm glad you're here."

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 **A/N: Traveling to the beach tomorrow! Hopefully the surf and sun will help the creative juices flow on Riches. Until then, drabbles galore!**


	11. Chapter 11: List

List  
 _eight years old_

The knocking at his door was quick, excessive, and insistent. Cedric looked to the small clock on his workbench. It was incredibly late for anyone to be at his tower. He swiveled around on his stool and stared at the door. The knocking paused briefly before starting up again. He sighed, already anticipating exasperation, and crossed the room to answer the knocking in his shirt sleeves.

The door opened to a wide-eyed, nightgown-clad princess with her arm raised to continue knocking.

"I'm quite certain that the entire castle would be up in arms to find you out of bed at this hour, Princesxs Sofia."

The girl absently picked at her cuticles. "I know. But mother and father are in Wei-Ling and Amber is over at a sleepover with Hildegard and James went with mom and dad to have a sleepover with Jin and I don't know where anyone else's rooms are and-"

Lightning flashed and Sofia had her arms wrapped around Cedric before the thunder rumbled. Cedric held his arms in the air before awkwardly settling one hand to her back while the other pat her head.

"I'm scared," her muffled voice squeaked out from somewhere around his middle.

Cedric felt frozen. He had never been great with children. He was turning twenty next week, not that anyone would remember, and felt relatively certain after babysitting his niece that he had no desire to have children. So this sort of interaction with someone so young felt foreign and unwanted.

" _But if you help her now, she may give you further opportunities to take the Amulet of Avalor,"_ came that dark little voice from inside him that sounded surprisingly like his mother. " _Do what you must to make the girl trust you. Her trust will make things so much easier."_

" _She says you're friends,"_ came a second voice that sounded much more like himself. " _And you don't really have enough of those around to waste."_

The voices in agreement, albeit for very different reasons, Cedric crouched down level with Sofia, his arms resting supportively under her elbows and her hands resting on his forearms.

"Everyone gets scared," he said, his voice uncharacteristically patient. "I find it's easier to get through scary moments if I make a list of things I like."

"Like card towers?" Cedric had never heard her voice sound so small. He gave her a little smile.

"Things _you_ like, Princess. Like flying in that terrifying sport of yours, and, I imagine...flowers?"

"Daffodils. I like daffodils. They're so sunny. And dancing. And - " the smile that had started to form vanished as the lightning flashed again. Her hands gripped his arms and he held her eyes.

"And knocking incessantly on my door?" He quirked his eyebrow teasingly. She gave a nervous laugh, trying to swallow down her fear.

"And helping clean your workshop."

"You actually enjoy that?"

"I do. You always end up teaching me something about magic and I really, _really_ love magic, Mr. Cedric."

He couldn't help his genuine smile. "I do, too, Princess."

* * *

 **A/N: I am apparently really in to lightning storms right now, especially considering there was an epic one last night. I regret nothing :)**

 **and I seem to have two speeds for these stories: incredibly dark and brooding or sweet and cute. Again, I regret nothing :)**


	12. Chapter 12: Quiet

**A/N: boy oh boy do I hate writing in first person and in present tense. This drabble was a challenge all around.**

* * *

Quiet  
 _nineteen years old_

It is amazing the kind of silence that can surround you, even while you're being inundated with sound. The ocean is roaring in my ears, the beachside fire crackling merrily along in the cold air of an early spring evening. My friends, my family are all laughing and talking either while sitting around the fire or in the nearby pavilion tent mounted in the sand. It isn't any special occasion. Not my birthday or any royal holiday. It had been a whim of my mother's for years to be on the water on the first day the weather wouldn't freeze us down to our very toes. And it had sort of become a tradition. Food would be packed to bring along, but nothing that needed to be prepared and we would invite those essential to the running of our household so that we could run the kingdom. And we would just...be. Together. It was warm and rich in the way a too-decadent chocolate dessert could be. I loved it (almost as much as I love chocolate). It had turned into my favorite day of the entire year.

And then, out of nowhere, fireworks burst into the sky and added to the impossible amount of noise. I gasp in surprise and then stare in awe, like a schoolgirl, at the eye-catching designs that painted the dark sky. The sounds pop and explode but something else calls my attention. I'd never know why but I knew exactly where to look. I turn my head over my shoulder and catch Cedric's glance and it's like he's seeing me for the very first time. I know my hands are fidgeting but I hope he doesn't notice as the sound all around me fades away into the dark pools he has the audacity to call eyes. It's almost eerily quiet. It's him and me and I stare at him, trying to be a woman, not a girl. Trying to be everything he might want. Until I give up on that and just try to be me, instead. I laugh, I can't help it, and he - oh sweet powers above and all around - he smiles right back at me and I see it! I see him finally let go and let me in.

And then the sounds come flooding back. The conversation and the ocean and the fireworks as a log in the fire snaps under the strain of the heat and brings my ears back to the present. I bite the corner of my lip in anticipation and he somehow chastises me with his just gaze and not a single other muscle in his face. My face flushes as I turn to face the flames again and start to concoct a plan to let me flee from my favorite day of the year.


	13. Chapter 13: Evening Table

**A/N: This is an answer to Morning table. It takes place two or three days after that drabble. I only referenced it from memory as I wrote, so please forgive any continuity errors.**

 **To give you a little background (for both stories): I imagine a scenario where something bad is going down and Cedric knows the power of the Amulet can solve the problem. He begs Sofia to trust him with the Amulet. She does trust Cedric - he hasn't give her any reason not to since the Day of the Sorcerers episode - except Cedric is missing an important piece of the puzzle to the threat and, for whatever reason, the Royal Family has to be sacrificed but Cedric is able to save one person, and he picks (and is encouraged to pick) Sofia. She's too young to rule, with her family dead, and Tilly is gone too for reasons and so Cedric, with the power of the Amulet, takes over the kingdom. Something happens to require Sofia to be locked up because REASONS but Cedric knows he's making the right move, because he isn't being cursed by the Amulet. Sofia doesn't know her family is dead until about a week before "Morning Table."**

 **I'm debating expanding this piece into a full fledged story. Any interest?**

 **p.s. can you tell I'm procrastinating on Freed From Lace? eeeeee ^^;**

* * *

Evening Table  
 _fifteen years old_

Cedric was struggling to button his jacket as he ran from his rooms to the Great Hall. The sun had barely set and the evening meal beckoned. And she had asked for him. Panic and excitement, concern and joy all fought for dominance within him. He had no idea what she was going to say. He had imagined the exchange hundreds of times, though it usually ended with her spitting in his face and knocking his crown to the ground. Cedric was hoping for better.

His feet had carried him to the double doors and he paused there, finishing his buttoning and taking a moment to catch his breath but not bothering to calm his heart rate. What was the point? It had been elevated since he broke the news to her two days ago and he doubted it would settle any time soon. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Sofia was sitting on the edge of her chair, taking delicate little sips from the teacup held between her manacled hands. Tea wasn't exactly food but he felt a little thrill at seeing her consuming something. Anything. Her eyes looked glazed over and distant with red rings that spoke to sleepless nights and fallen tears.

Upon seeing her, Cedric immediately waved a hand in the air and the manacles unlocked, falling from her wrists and disappearing before they could land in her lap. Her eyes focused on him instantly. She gave him the smallest of nods, recognizing his sign of trust. And then she stood in a sign of respect that Cedric wouldn't have believed if he hadn't been there to see it, not after the past two years of her resistance and pugnacious attitude toward him.

"I've decided to forgive you," her voice echoed slightly in the nearly empty room, though it was quiet and hoarse. Her words froze Cedric in place. "It's what my mother would have -" she cut herself off, fighting back the tears that had begun to well at the corners of her eyes. "You were doing what you thought was right. And I can't blame you for that." Sofia balanced herself on the table, her hand possessively resting on the journal of her mother's that Cedric had found when he willed himself to enter the King and Queen's chambers for the first time since his...mistake. He had only read the last entry - a letter to Sofia in case things went rather less well than they all hoped.

Cedric could only nod. He could see Sofia had more to say although she had paused to battle through the tears that she couldn't restrict from trickling down her face.

"She...she made you promise…"

"To save you, yes. Because you knew the Amulet and the kingdom would need you most if-"

"-if you didn't make it, either." She finished for him. She bit down on her lower lip as she concentrated, willing herself to stop her tears from falling and not succeeding. "...there was no other way?"

Cedric had thought about this question over and over again. He played out in his head every scenario with every alternative and it all lead back to him with the Amulet and the chance to save only one of the Royal Family. He knew the answer now, just has he had known the answer then.

"No, Sofia. I am so, so sorry." It felt like nothing worth saying. A pittance against her loss but an apology, and a safe and stable kingdom but that was beside the point, was all he had to offer her. He was surprised, however, to find himself close enough to Sofia to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. He hadn't realized he had moved closer and closer to her, drawn to her by her heartache. She looked up at him as he touched her shoulder. Her eyes locked with his, unwilling to release him.

"I forgive you," Sofia stated clearly, unwaveringly before curling into his shoulder and weeping as her body shook from sorrow. As Cedric held her in fraternal comfort, his chin resting on her head, he marveled at the best of a worst case scenario.


	14. Chapter 14: Something Old

Something Old  
 _eighteen years old_

"They're _children_. Your friends are all children"

"They're the same age as me!"

"Yes, well, you're different now aren't you? More mature. Surely it has to do with the company you keep."

Sofia pat Cedric's arm comfortingly as they strolled the palace gardens. "That must be it, darling."

He put his hand on hers and stopped their walking, his eyes boring down into hers. " _You_ don't think you're too young for me, and I too old for you, do you?"

Sofia indulged in an over-the-top eye roll. "For the ten-thousandth time, Cedric, no. I love you and your age and my age do not matter. Love that superseeds poor impressions and bad jokes."

Cedric quirked an eyebrow and Sofia pressed her lips together. She knew he'd just caught her.

"Bad jokes? What bad jokes?"

"Didn't you want to see the - um - those plants over there with that very special unique thing for -"

"Sofia." His tone was flat, unamused, and demanding all at the same time. It was amazing how he could accomplish so much with three little syllables.

"Weeeell…"

"Out with it."

"You're not going to like it."

"That's a given. Just tell me."

Sofia took a deep breath. "Hildegarde has been joking that I'll only need something new, borrowed, and blue on our wedding day."

Cedric's face shifted into confusion. Sofia sighed.

"You know, that saying for what a bride needs when she walks down the aisle?"

He shook his head. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"It's a rhyme. And it starts, um…" She looked down at his hand on hers, finding his hand less threatening than his eyes, and said as quickly as possible: "somethingoldsomethingnewsomethingborrowedandsomethingblue."

"Something…what?"

Sofia sighed, slightly put out for having to spell out the dumb joke. "Something _old_ , something new, something borrowed, and something blue. A bride is supposed to have one of each of those things and Hildegarde is saying I already have something old because I'm marrying you."

Cedric stared hard at her. Sofia winced inwardly in anticipation of his reaction.

"HA!" He guffawed, to her complete surprise.

"You're not...you're not upset?"

"I would be, if I didn't happen to know the list of men being considered _her_ betrothal are twice again my age."

Sofia was dumbstruck that Cedric would know a piece of gossip Sofia hadn't yet heard from Amber. Less specifically, Sofia was just generally dumbstruck that Cedric knew any gossip at all.

He chuckled quietly as he started their walk up again, practically dragging a stunned Sofia along with him. "It's a funny little quip though, I must admit."

* * *

 **A/N: Shout out to Jessibelle811 for inadvertently giving me the idea for this one! I had been stumped on this prompt!  
Side note - I've started my work in earnest on revising Riches. Preface and Chapter 2 (former chapter 1) are up. Look for more updates over this week and a new chapter before the end of July (fingers crossed for two new chapters. We'll see how work goes with my beta!) **


	15. Chapter 15: Blue

Blue  
 _sixteen years old_

Cedric didn't have any comprehension of how he had gotten to the shore. He had always been a terrible swimmer but something, magic or maybe simple adrenaline, had gotten him out of the water while he dragged Sofia with him. He had kicked off his shoes and torn off his robe before going after her flailing hand.

He dragged her up on the shore. The water lapped mockingly at her ankles, rocking her feet from side to side. Sofia was disturbingly still. She had been coughing, gurgling in the water but that had stopped and she had fallen limp against him a few yards away from the shore. Cedric knelt beside her and his hands hovered above her body, momentarily indecisive. He was stilled by the faint blue tinge of her lips, frozen by their stillness and lack of smile tucked into the corners.

Cedric's hands moved of their own accord, one to cover her nose and the other to awkwardly cup the lower half of her face to part those tinted lips and press his to hers without another thought. He blew air into her lungs and found nothing but resistance; it was as if there was no room for air in her body. He let her go, sitting back on his knees and running his hands through his damp hair.

Frustrated and desperate, panic and passion brought his fist down on her chest. Water trickled out of her lips but she still didn't move. Cedric found his body moving without instruction from his mind. He dragged Sofia's torso up over his knees, her head dangling down to rest against the sand. He drew back a hand and beat against her back with no reverence to her body. There was water inside of her, preventing her from breathing, preventing her from _living_ and it had to come out at any cost.

Sofia sputtered. Her arms twitched. Her fist tightened around the fabric of Cedric's shirt, the other pressing into the sand as she coughed. Cedric rubbed his hand soothingly across her beaten back, dropping back his head in relief as half the water content of the lake seemed to exit Sofia's lungs beside him. She lay there across his legs, her breathing slowly coming back to normal. Cedric watched her back filling up with air over and over again. She started to shake, from the ordeal or from the cold of the crisp autumn air across damp skin and clothes, he couldn't be certain. He turned her around and pulled her up to hold her, but not before finding her face.

"D-don't ever d-do that to m-me again!" Cedric hadn't realized he was shivering, too. He soaked in her face, color flushing back to her cheeks but her lips still the tiniest bit blue. But they were full of life again and he could see the curl of a smile pushing through her exhaustion. He reached out an arm and summoned his dry robe to his hand, draping it across her shoulders and pressing her against his chest in a fierce hold, protecting her from everything as best he could.

* * *

 **A/N: I seem to have two speeds for these drabbles (and forgive me if I've pointed this out before, I don't remember) - incredibly fluffy or incredibly angsty. I saw bring on the fluff and bring on the angst - whatever my muse should give me. :) Happy Monday!**

 **p.s. y'all absolutely made my month in June with all the views and visits to my stories. Thank you so much for giving my writing some of your time. It made me feel super awesome.**


	16. Chapter 16: Reflection

Reflection  
 _seventeen years old_

"Back away!" came the command. It was a deeper pitch than Cedric was accustomed to and muffled, but it was definitely Sofia. He had hoped against hope that it wasn't her he had seen from the corner of his eye. He knew she was usually in the fencing room at this time but he also knew that since James had gone off to train with the Knights that Sofia didn't keep religiously to the schedule any longer. But it wasn't as if he had much control. You generally don't get to choose which doors an assailant throws you through.

The momentum from the toss had rolled Cedric to Sofia's feet, his wand barely out of reach of his hand. She had stepped in front of him, protecting him. Foolish girl. Foolish, wonderful, potentially suicidal girl. The one saving grace of the moment was that she was fully attired for her activity in thin armor and full face mask, her hair tucked away under the mask. The only part of her that could be recognizable would be her voice and it sounded to him as though she was trying her best to disguise it, clever thing. She held a rapier defensively at her side. Cedric was uncertain if he felt relief or concern when he saw it wasn't one of the blades with the protective tip for casual sparring.

After sparing the glimpse in the settling dust to see Sofia standing over him, Cedric shut his eyes and feigned unconsciousness. It could give them an advantage, he told himself, if he seemed passed out and that it was strategy, not cowardice, to do so. Though he did slowly, oh so slowly, inch his hand to his wand. He heard the unimpressed laugh of the rotund man who had thrown Cedric through the doors and fought back an internal cringe at underestimating his enemy. He was some king or another who had come into the castle, apparently uninvited. He had met Cedric first and punched him across the face with inhuman strength. It was around the time that Cedric heard bones crack unpleasantly and tasted blood in his mouth that he resolved to never leave his tower again. Before he could raise his wand to act, the foreign king had lifted him by his throat while laughing maniacally and thrown his body through the doors of what turned out to be the fencing room. It brought him immediate relief to see it wasn't unoccupied, followed my immediate panic at knowing that Sofia was in danger now, too.

Cedric heard feet approaching, slow but not calculating in their heavy step.

"Let me kill the damned magician and I won't kill you, how about that?" he said thickly.

Sofia's feet responded, lunging forward in a practiced motion. Cedric could hear the thin blade whipping through the air and a sudden growl of pain.

"THAT WAS UNWISE!" he roared. His feet thundered toward Sofia but her feet padded off, leading the man away from Cedric's prone form. Cedric heard the rapier whip through the air again and again, each time followed by crescendoing roars of rage and pain. Whatever had giving that man his inhuman strength had skimped on his dexterity, making him an excellent pin cushion for Sofia and her blade. Cedric had to hold back laughter at how easily Sofia seemed to be handling this beast while Cedric had been so quickly bested.

A smack of impact. A gasp, a groan and a body hit the ground. Cedric's eyes flew open and his fingers wrapped around his wand. Sofia was down. Hit, hurt, definitely still alive and conscious, but down. Cedric watched in slow motion as the foreign king raised his foot to deliver a devastating blow across Sofia's vulnerable back. If time was moving slowly for the enemy, it was moving in double time for Cedric. He felt a fire of fierce protection ignite within him, melting any trace of cowardice away. He got to his feet, raised his wand in a terrible arch of power he had never known before, and sought to defend Sofia, the first true friend he had ever known.

* * *

 **A/N: Did you catch the INCREDIBLY CORNY ending? *Sofia, the first* Sometimes I completely flounder on how to end/pause these drabbles and so I default to something so corny I have to go floss.  
I saw this awesome fan art that had Sofia in armor and I just had to indulge. Cedric keeps saving Sofia in these drabbles, so I thought she should save him for a change. Though, as it turns out, the story wrapped around to Cedric saving her. In my head, they end up doing it together and once the bad guy was taken care of, THEN soldiers come running in, which Cedric is quite put out about. **

**The prompt for this that I went off on was reflection. Cedric was supposed to open his eyes from his fake unconsciousness and see a second enemy approaching Sofia through the reflection of a mirror while Sofia was taking care of the first guy. But I thought one bad guy was easier (which I was picturing as King whatshisface from Rudistan). Anyway. Just goes to show you how a prompt can start you down one path and then led you to another. :)**

 **p.s. I pinky promise swear that I'm working on Freed from Lace and Give Me Your Riches. Pinky promise! Soon!**


	17. Chapter 17: Soft

**A/N: Might I suggest a listen to "Reflecting Light" by Sam Phillips?  
**

* * *

Soft  
 _twenty-seven years old_

The night was saturated in wild colors of spinning skirts and roaring flame. The bonfire drew the villagers to it for miles around. It was a celebration unlike any Sofia had found herself surrounded with for what felt like countless years. She was old for royal marrying age, nearly 28, and thus a firmly established Duchess. At some point, she had been coined the "cobbler princess" and it hadn't exactly drawn in the eligible bachelors. Sofia had grown sick of the pity-invites that drew her to pastel colored powder puff parties on a near weekly basis that she had to attend to keep her sister's reputation appeased. But tonight, tonight she had abandoned those obligations. She had thrown on a simple dress in the deepest shade of plum, a fur lined red cloak to hold her against the crisp night, and let her hair fall down her back in wild curls.

The sight of the fire drew her first. When she was close enough, the crackling of the flame accompanied music and laughter and singing made it an irresistible destination. It sounded like freedom and joy and release and it was bare moments before Sofia was swept into the dance, spinning around the bonfire while moving from partner to partner in a routine that bared no resemblance to the organized courtly dances she was constrained to by her mother's marriage. But now she was bubbling over with joy, out of breath from laughing as she gained a taste of the kind of steps her life should have taken her through.

Sofia's partner clutched her waist under her cloak after they shared a turn. He kept her with him, refusing her a partner change as the music suddenly changed from wild tumblings of drums and brass and flute to a soulful fiddle that rang alone through the night air. Her eyes ripped from the flame to her partner's face; it took her a moment to adjust to the change in light as she focused in on intense, puckish eyes and a long, elegant nose. Her heart pounded wildly from the beat of the previous song as Cedric drew her closer to him, refusing to drop her gaze. She hadn't seen him in three years. He had been away on some opportunity beyond Tangu to study the origin of familiars while his sister filled in his Royal Sorcerer obligations. Letters had been exchanged here and there, but his replies were just as terse on parchment as they had been in person before he left.

But now, that glance, that grip on her waist... Distance melted away as Cedric pulled her to him and took her other hand in his. He pressed his body against hers as he swayed her around in a halfhearted almogonation of steps to resemble the three-four waltzing time of the music. He stared down at her, seeming to drink in the pink of her cheeks from the rowdy music of moments before, exchanged for this new tender swing of string tenor. His hand was softer than she expected it to be from years of potioneering. That was the first moment that she noticed he wasn't wearing his gloves. Tangu changed him, she realized as she clung to his confident hold and she couldn't be more grateful for the change. He leaned his head to hers, pressing his cheek against hers while they rocked back and forth beside the heat of the fire and the heat of her heart, finally aflame.


	18. Chapter 18: Green

**A/N: This is a touch medically graphic in places. If that's not your scene, I'd skip this one.**

* * *

Green  
 _nineteen years old_

Sofia's gown had been destroyed; the potion having eaten through the silks in several places. She had never been so grateful for the excessive number of petticoats she wore that had inadvertently protected her from the acidic splashes. Cedric, however, had been less fortunate. He was sitting beside her on the ground, unknowingly pressing his shoulder against hers with his hand atop her skirts in her lap. The accidentally-made acid had eaten into his protective gloves, melding the fabric into his skin in several places with an unpleasant tinge of green.

The tower was mostly unharmed. The potion seemed to only eat away at fabric so the only other victim of its explosion was a large rug that had, until just recently, warmed the stone floor. The smell of burnt hair thickly filled the air, sourced from the destroyed clothes and rug. The scent mingled with the strangely sweet, metallic smell of blood emanating from Cedric's injured hand.

A large pair of tweezers in one hand, Sofia held Cedric's wrist firmly with her other hand to keep him still. She admonished the injury with a "tsk" of her tongue. Cedric answered by sucking in air through his teeth as the tweezers latched onto a strip of fabric. In a slow, practiced motion, it was pulled away, divorcing the unnatural marriage of fabric and skin. Sofia could feel Cedric tensing beside her, trying to hide how much pain he was feeling.

"Merlin, woman…" he said through gritted teeth. He stared at the strip of his glove that now dangled in the air, a sickening line of his skin clearly evident on one side of the leather. The smell and the sight was horrible, but both magic practitioners kept firm hold over their stomachs. The ingredients for potions over the years had brought them to see (and smell) worse. The pain, however, was something Cedric couldn't have practiced for. His undamaged hand pressed down against the floor and then moved to grip around the fabric of his pants in an effort, and failure, to find the best coping mechanism for the pain. "Can't you just use magic and be done with it?"

Sofia's expression didn't change, though her grip on his wrist tightened.

"You know I have to remove any foreign objects from the field before I can heal you," she responded in a voice distracted by her task. Cedric released a curse that would cause his mother to make him wash his mouth out with soap, even now, as another strip of fabric was removed. Sofia quirked an eyebrow, mentally making a note of the curse to subtly drop it in conversation with James later on to see how he'd react.

This went on for nearly an hour; Sofia working diligently while Cedric writhed from the elbow up in pain, shouting expletives when it got to be too much. When she was finished, Sofia put down the tweezers and let out a long exhale. She sat there quietly, feeling the weight of Cedric pressing against her while his hand, a raw and exposed thing missing several layers of skin, rested in his lap. She sat there, so still and quiet, for so long that Cedric eventually sat up enough to look at her and ask, in a voice timidly balanced between expectation and confusion:

"Are you going to heal my hand?"

"I haven't decided yet." Her voice was terse.

"What do y-"

"How could you do that!" A fire was alight in her eyes, her voice a power that belied her stature as she raged at him.

Cedric opened his mouth to respond but was immediately cut off.

"No, you don't speak. You listen. How could you be so careless with your work?! What if I hadn't been down the hall? What if you hadn't brought your hand to block your face at just the right moment? You have to be more careful. You cannot, _cannot_ be this careless now. You're supposed to have all of this experience and be this Master Potioner, right?"

Cedric raised his eyebrows at her expectantly.

"...you can speak." Some of her fire faded away, the wick of her anger quickly burning out.

"What do you mean by "now," love?"

Sofia kept her face tellingly still. "We should call your mother," she said, standing abruptly which elicited a pained groan from Cedric as his exposed hand shifted with her movement. "I've healed burns from flame like this but never from acid. I don't want to get it wrong." Her feet moved her quickly across the tower, out of his sightline, and to the portrait of Cedric's parents. Cedric tried to get to his feet, but even the slightest jostling of his hand caused him intense agony. So instead he called after Sofia.

"What are you hiding?"

"Can't hear you! I'm calling your mother!" Sofia's head popped back around to meet Cedric's eyes. He tried to lock eyes with her, to stare into her soul through her gaze. But she was looking pointedly at his forehead instead of his eyes. "And if you're good, I won't tell her all the curses you shouted."

Her mischief was clear as she skipped back over to the portrait. Cedric stared after her, uncertain, and waited to feel his mother's presence enter the room.


	19. Chapter 19: Beloved

Beloved  
 _sixteen years old_

Violet stepped out of Sofia's rooms, another untouched tray of food in her hands.

"She still hasn't eaten?"

Violet jumped, the cloche clattering against the plate.

"Mr. Cedric?" she asked in the direction of the voice as Cedric seemed to appear from just down the hall. "I apologize, sir, you gave me a fright." She shifted the tray to hold it in one hand as her other hand fluttered up to her chest and patted it a few times. Cedric moved to stand beside her, eyeing the tray as if he could push the cold food around with just his scrutiny.

"She hasn't eaten?" his tone patiently prompted Violet to answer the question.

She shook her head, clucking like a concerned mother hen. "No, sir. She hasn't moved, hasn't slept, far as I can tell. And she hasn't eaten. Haven't been able to get a bite in her since, well…"

Her words trailed off and Cedric didn't need her to finish her thought. The castle had been shrouded in black for several days, now. No one was willing to speak aloud what had happened.

Cedric stepped forward and put his hand on the doorknob. "Send up some tea, Violet. I'll see what I can do."

Violet opened her mouth as if to protest this idea, but then thought better of it. Sofia needed help, no matter the source. She nodded once to him and went on to fetch a pot of tea as Cedric opened the door and stepped inside.

Cedric walked through the dark antechamber and into Sofia's bedroom; a place he had only been in once or twice before in his tenure in the palace. No candles had been lighted; the wicks were still white. A sickly amount of sunlight poured into the bedroom from a clouded sky. Cedric followed a trail of Princessly adornments (tiara, snood, gown, petticoats, in that order) abandoned on the floor that led to a large window seat. And seated there, dressed in her shift and wrapped in a blanket, was curled Sofia, first of her name, starring out the window.

"I told you, Violet. I'm not..." she turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw not Violet but Cedric, standing there plainly before her. "Oh…" she said in a whisper. Her eyes flicked up to meet his only briefly before she looked away. She looked so small in that moment as tears started to fall on her delicate features. Cedric was only able to take one step forward before Sofia unfolded herself from her spot at the window and ran across the room, throwing herself into his arms.

Cedric clung to Sofia, supporting her as she shook in his embrace. He stroked her hair and let her cry, let her mourn as his presence provided some unnameable comfort in the chaos of this tragedy.

"I'm here, I'm here," he whispered to her over and over again in a sort of calming chant until Sofia finally quieted. Cedric didn't bother asking her permission before he scooped her up in his arms. Her eyes fluttered closed. She pressed into him, practically deadweight in his arms. He held her closely, safely, a port in the storm of her sorrow. He moved her across the room, gently laying her down on her bed. Before he could step away, she reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Stay," she whispered, her voice a little hoarse.

Cedric reached over to her with his other hand and brushed the hair out of her face in a gesture dangerously playing on the definition of his affection for her. He smiled down into her bleary eyes.

"I was just going to fetch your blanket, dear one." The endearment slipped out and he couldn't bring himself to regret it.

.

* * *

.

 **A/N: The prompt - Beloved - is more of a feeling, less of a word this time around.  
This ends a bit abruptly. I started writing more after this paragraph but I couldn't find a good conclusion. This seemed good enough. It is just a drabble after all.  
Let the tragedy be what you imagine it to be. **


	20. Chapter 20: Something New (re: Green)

Something New (Companion to "Green")  
 _nineteen years old_

Winifred materialized through the portrait into Cedric's tower. She was wrapped in a winter cloak and her cheeks had a girlish tinge of pink from cold. She brushed mittened hands over her shoulders, snow falling from the heavy wool and melting before it hit the ground. "Sofia! Dear! I wasn't expecting a call. I ran straight in. Is everything - "

The matronly woman stopped bustling about in place and tentatively reached out to Sofia before drawing her hand to her mouth. She reached out again as she spoke. "Oh my dear..." a smile startling to curl her lips upward. Her fingers brushed across Sofia's lower abdomen before she realized what she was doing. She looked up at Sofi; her mouth was gaping slightly open, her own hand absently wandering up to touch Winifred's at her stomach.

"I thought...I wasn't sure…"

"Mummy? Is that you?" Cedric called from out of sight. Sofia snapped her mouth closed and brought her hand to her side.

"Just a minute, Ceddy," she called back in the sort of practiced sing-song tone that only mothers can have with their children. "Mummy's talking!"

Cedric mumbled something in response that was too low and too far away to understand, but likely contained an admonishment of the neverending perils of two women speaking together regardless of his rather urgent need for medicinal attention."

"Does he know?"

Sofia shook her head. "I only - just today - I wasn't -"

"And it's my Ceddy's?"

Sofia instantly blushed and that was enough answer for Winifred. She stepped forward and cupped Sofia's cheek in her hand. "Oh you darling girl," she said in whisper of awe and endearment. At Winifred's touch and her words, Sofia immediately felt warm and comforted; like coming in out of the cold and being greeted by a warm fire, a warm drink, and a good book. She sighed and leaned into Winifred's hand and Winifred's face immediately filled with concern.

"What is it, dear?"

"Mummy!" Cedric called again, more insistent.

"Just a minute, Ceddy!" Winnifred called back, more sternly. She nodded at Sofia to continue.

"We aren't married, Mrs. Winifred -"

" _Mum_. You'll call me mum." She could barely contain her smile. Sofia returned it, if a little sadly.

"Mum," she confirmed the change. "It'll be scandal."

Winifred's smile faded slightly. No matter the marital circumstances, a baby conceived of love was a beautiful thing. She knew that the Royals had their own rather backward perspectives a bit too tied into their idea of what the "right" order of things was, but she had never counted Sofia among those who thought first of position and then of everything else.

"Things are going so well. I would hate - I mean, I wouldn't want…." Sofia noticed the fall of Winifred's face. It was enough to spur her to quickly finish a sentence. "I would hate for some political scandal to inhibit Cedric's rising position in the wizarding world."

Her doubts assuaged, Winifred cupped Sofia's face with both of her mittened hands and kissed her firmly on the forehead. "Oh you sweet, sweet girl."

"...What's going on?" Cedric had joined them, his steps slow. His good hand was gingerly supporting his injured one as he gave the two women a curious look. "What political scandal? And why are you kissing her head like that, Mummy? Sofia, are you well?"

Winifred shifted to stand slightly behind Sofia, her hands supportively on the Princess's shoulders. "Ceddy, Sofia has something to tell you."

Sofia's eyes widened as she stared up at Cedric. She bit her lip. She had barely put any thought into this announcement, but telling Cedric with his mother behind her was certainly not in any of the scenarios she had imagined. Winifred squeezed her shoulders encouragingly. Sofia's mouth felt dry. Words wouldn't come. The silence between the three seemed to last approximately ten years.

"...yes?" Cedric tried to ease the awkward silence.

"I'm pregnant," Sofia immediately answered, her words running together in her nervousness.

Cedric blinked once, turned, and walked away.

Sofia shook her head, startled, and didn't have a chance to form any other thoughts before Winifred was storming after Cedric.

"I did _not_ raise you to behave in this way, young man," she raged at him, following him as he rummaged through a few drawers in the back rooms of his tower, neglecting his raw hand. He found want he was looking for and walked back to Sofia, his mother yelling behind him all the while.

Cedric took Sofia's hand in his, dexterous fingers maneuvering to place a ring at the top of Sofia's ring finger. HIs mother instantly quieted and Sofia felt her breath catch. Cedric stared into her eyes, composed despite the pain at the corners of his gaze.

"I was waiting for the right moment. The right sunrise, the right full moon. The right permissions, the right place. I could never settle on the right idea and I realized that was because everything is right, everything is better, with you beside me. And now, this news…" he smiled, the expression unable to be contained. "Would you marry me, Sofia?"

Winifred practically squeaked. Sofia, her eyes glassy with unshed tears, nodded, and Cedric slid the ring on her finger. His good hand wrapped around her waist, drawing her to him and kissing her.

"Now," he said, his smile infectious, "could someone please, _please_ heal my hand?"

.

* * *

.

 **A/N: Ask and sometimes ye shall receive!  
Yes, yes she's pregnant.  
If this was a bigger story, I might have played with a bigger secret (not that pregnancy isn't a big secret!). Maybe something just more action/adventure/exciting if I was to expand this into a chapter story. But it's a drabble and it's fluffy and damnit, the world needs some fluff. I apologize for nothing. **

**P.s. - married folks, do you remember what was said to you during the proposal? I was so overwhelmed that I can't remember anything except that the end went…**

 **Luke: *says a lot of lovely things that I can't remember. Opens ring box* Will you marry me?**  
 **Me: You opened the box ((he always said he wouldn't open the box until I said yes so I said yes to the man, not the ring))**  
 **Luke: *uncomfortable/nervous laughter* Yes. I opened the box. So what's your answer?**  
 **Me: Oh! Yes!**

 ***lots of happy kissing in the rain at the Washington Monument. Some applause. Both of our families emerge from who-knows-where taking lots of pictures and cheering***

 **But zero recollection of anything he said before the box was opened. Oh well :)**


	21. Chapter 21: Favorite

Favorite  
 _twenty one years old_

"You could die."

"I won't die."

"But you could."

Cedric heaved a heavy sigh as he latched his case closed. He looked to Sofia. She was running the dangling fabric of her trumpeted sleeve between nervous fingers. Weeks before, she had been more playful in her pleading for him to stay behind. But now, the day upon him, she was filled to the brim with genuine concern.

"I really wish you hadn't read the Guidebook. It ate on your fear, you know. Told you things it knew would bother you."

"True things," she said sotto voce.

"True possibilities," he corrected. "If they come to pass, it will be because I deserved them, because I wasn't prepared the way I should be. Merlin insists that I'm ready." Cedric hoped that the confidence of his words would blur his own unease. Mild though it may be, it was there, waiting in the back of his mind for fear to open the door and let it in with a roar. And Sofia's concern was doing very little to help keep the door shut.

Cedric threw his traveling cloak over his shoulders and lifted his case off the workbench to hold it at his side. There was nothing left to do but go. He looked to the door and then to Sofia, his gaze somewhere above affectionate but just below longing. Sofia looked back at him, still nothing but nerves about his departure. Her gaze, wrought with fear and worry, boring back into his own. Whether or not she knew she was blocking the tower door, he couldn't be certain.

"Well," he said, bowing his head deeply in respect to her station, "be sure to leave the window open for Wormwood when you leave." He looked at her and she back at him. The silence was awkward, filled with unspoken tension. "Farewell."

Cedric took in a steadying breath and looked away from her and walked past her to the door. Sofia grabbed his free hand as he walked by. He stopped, the warmth of her hand holding him still. Her hand was clinging to his, as if she could keep him alive by holding him there. She didn't move, still looking towards his abandoned workbench, so Cedric, facing the door, didn't move either.

"You are my favorite, _favorite_ person, Cedric," her voice was somehow both adoring and ferocious. She slipped her fingers to lace in between his and pulled him closer to her. Sofia looked up at him, drinking in the details of his face like she might never see them again. She lifted her chin, timid though determined, and leaned closer. Cedric, in a motion that felt almost out-of-body, dipped his head to hers. Her lips were warm and the kiss was chaste.

When they parted, Sofia didn't smile. Her eyes fluttered up to his with an intensity she usually reserved for fencing practice.

"Come back."

It wasn't a request. It was an expectation, one that Cedric was determined to meet. He planted a second, quicker kiss on her lips.

"I will."

He squeezed her hand once and then he was gone.

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 **A/N: I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the engagement stories that y'all posted in your reviews. Hooray for love!**


	22. Chapter 22: Yes

Yes  
 _this works across a wide age range from pre-teen to young woman. I couldn't choose, so you can pick for yourself!_

"You _lied!"_

Sofia's roar of indignation came from the bottom of the steps up to his tower door. Cedric didn't bother to look up, engrossed in his book, as Sofia threw open the door seconds later. He could practically _hear_ her seething as he turned a page.

"You lied!" She denounced him again from the doorway.

"Yes," he said lazily in response. He could play out the expressions on Sofia's face in his head without looking at her. She would straighten her posture, square her shoulders incredulously and arch an eyebrow in his direction. He counted to three, giving her actions their time to play out before continuing. "I often lie, Princess," he drawled.

"Not to me."

She sounded more stern than usual. She marched across the room, approaching him. Cedric noted that she didn't seem to be wearing shoes, her feet whispering across the floor instead of making their usual rhythmic clicking.

"Weeeell…" he said considering, still staring at the page. She plucked the book from his hands and dropped it unceremoniously onto his work bench. Cedric sat up, his eyes following the book. "I was reading that!"

"Would you just look at me you…you…" she stomped her foot, frustrated with her charming lack of insulting vocabulary, "you liar!"

Cedric listened, turning his head to look at Sofia.

She was clad from the waist down in nothing but little white pantaloons that ended at her mid-thigh, the summer heat and lackadaisical "family day" excusing her from any other undergarments like stockings, or, apparently, shoes. The top of her gown remained intact, but the skirt had completely vanished.

Confusion, concern, and then something akin to amusement alighted in his eyes as he began to laugh. He tried to school his face to neutrality. He failed.

The corners of Sofia's lips tried to curl upward as she hit him across the shoulder.

"It's not funny!"

"Oh I assure you, it is. What happened?" He asked between bouts of laughter. It was the way she stood there before him that had him chuckling. She wasn't embarrassed or self conscious about her appearance. She could care less about that, it seemed. The obvious concern to most people didn't phase her in the slightest. Instead, she was completely focused on him and his "good word," apathetic to her scandalous lack of skirt.

"James was showboating down by the moat and water splashed my skirt and dried on the silk. I used your spell to vanish the stain but instead my entire skirt - stop laughing!" She hit his shoulder twice more.

Cedric tried to evade her second series of hits but her aim was true. He then tried to swallow down his laughter to speak, only barely succeeding. "You're telling me you marched across the entire grounds in nothing but that to come up here and call me a liar before getting yourself another skirt?"

"Yes! Because you're terrible, terrible person to lie to me and-and you needed to know that immediately!" The words had no bite to them. Her temper had nearly vanished as Cedric pointed out the scandal of the image she must have made across the grounds.

"I didn't lie!"

"You did." Sofia's face gained some serious composure as she stared down at him.

"You asked me a spell to vanish a stain."

"...yes," she begrudgingly admitted.

"Well, I told you a spell that would vanish the stain. And the rest of the fabric, too."

"That's the same thing!"

"Don't blame me for not paying attention to spell root word lectures, Princess. Besides, I couldn't have anticipated you using in this particular...application." Cedric's face was smug and he knew it. Sofia glared down at him in the chair, worrying her lip as she seemed to consider her options.

"Fine," she resolved. "Maybe you aren't a liar."

"Oh, I am most certainly a liar."

She gave him that indignant look he had imagined earlier while still staring at his book.

"I am." There was a playful glimmer in his eyes. "Just not about this."

She tried to bite back her smile and failed. Cedric stood and offered her his arm, chuckling at the image they must have made as he escorted her across the tower.

"Come on then. Let's see if I can't loan you a robe for you to walk back to your rooms."

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 **A/N - fluff!**  
 **To those who have asked here and there, yes, my drabbles do sometimes evolve into stories (see: Freed From Lace). I'm trying not to get too wound up in another big chapter story before Riches is done. But "Favorite" got my brain going. Nothing's on paper. Yet. But I think I'm going to experiment with writing almost all of it first and then regularly post. Stay tuned!**


	23. Chapter 23: Down

Down

"What's her name?" Cedric asked, his voice hovering just above a whisper. He had never held a baby before. He had never liked babies before. But this baby, with her goose down-like tuft of dark hair, had been screaming up until the moment her mother had eased her into his angular arms. Looking down at her somehow softened his hold into something more natural as he instinctively cradled her in his arms.

"I haven't named her," Cordelia answered from her bed, too weary to bicker and berate for which Cedric was grateful.

The baby wiggled her hand up to her mouth and started suckling on it. She made contented little coos and rested into Cedric with an infantile sigh. She embodied with word "pink" with her soft sounds and warm skin. Cedric couldn't help but smile at her. He wanted to move his hand to touch her but didn't dare shift away from how Cordelia had instructed he hold himself to hold the baby.

"Calista," Cedric said in an awed little exhale.

"What?" Cordelia pushed up on her elbows to sit up slightly in bed.

"What?" Cedric somehow found the will to break his gaze away from his perfect little niece, his expression most closely resembling a child caught in the act of stealing sweets.

"The name you just said, what was it?"

"I wasn't thinking," Cedric said, immediately defensive. "It just slipped out."

Cordelia sighed heavily, exhausted. "I'm not trying to pick a fight, Ceddy. I just want to hear the name you said again."

Cedric stared at his sister for a long, silent, considering minute.

"Calista."

"Calista," Cordelia replied, trying it out on her tongue. "What does it mean?"

Cedric looked down at the baby, smiling, unaware of the touch of pink that brushed across his cheeks as he fell in love. "Most beautiful."

A sob burst out of Cordelia. She immediately covered her mouth to swallow any more that followed. Cedric went to her side without hesitation, sitting on the edge of the bed and easily shifting to hold the baby in one arm so he could place a hand on Cordelia's shoulder. She welcomed his touch, sliding her shoulders under his sympathetic arm and pressing her head against his chest.

"Cordy…" Cedric held her as tightly as he could with one arm. Cordelia didn't cry, but her eyes were shut tight as she held to her brother. "Cordy what happened? Why didn't you tell anyone about this - about your pregnancy? Why didn't anyone know? Why did you call me instead of mother and father?"

Cordelia pressed back from Cedric and wiped a rebellious tear off her cheek. She reached over to take the baby back into her arms and traced the back of her finger across the baby's face. Cedric watched as Cordelia regained her self-assured composure. She presented him with a handshake smile.

"Thank you for coming, Cedric. I'm tired. Could you go and send for mother, please?"

Cedric slowly stood up. This moment had been the closest he had been to his sister in a decade, physically and emotionally, and she was pushing him away again. He looked at her, defeated, and nodded once.

"Of course, Cordelia. I'll go and fetch her myself."

He spared one last fond smile for the baby and turned to go. When he got to the door, her voice stopped him.

"Thank you, Ceddy. Calista and I both thank you."

Cedric, so stunned by Cordelia's words, barely had the strength to turn and face her. There was a glimmer of something sincere and loving behind her eyes, behind that curated mask she always wore. She gave him the smallest of nods and Cedric had to hold in the desire to skip out of the room.

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 **A/N:**

 **I am *here* for positive brother/sister moments between these two. And as far as I know, the show hasn't really addressed Calista's parentage, so I thought I'd use that to my advantage here.**

 **rough age math for this drabble: Cedric is 15ish years older than Sofia. Calista is 5ish years younger than Sofia. If Sofia is 10 in "Gone With the Wand" and Calista is 5, that means when Calista was born, Cedric was about 20.**

 **Riches is in Beta phase. I hope to have it out to you by next week.**


	24. Chapter 24: Close Up

Close Up  
 _eighteen years old_

He was ruined.

One touch had completely ruined him.

They were on a picnic with Calista and, after much prodding, all three of them had laid back to watch the shape of the clouds. Sofia had positioned herself back on the blanket so that her head rested somewhere near Cedric's shin while Calista had opted to flop backwards into the grass. Calista was prattling on about the shapes she saw in the clouds with Sofia occasionally encouraging her with her own observations.

But then Sofia had drawn one of her hands to her face to brush away her hair, disturbed by the windy day. She brought that hand to rest beside her head. It landed on the blanket and the backs of her fingers pressed up against the side of Cedric's calf.

Cedric stopped breathing. Sofia's hand didn't move.

She had to know. She had to know that the lunch had been magicked away, back into the picnic basket that was helping to hold the blanket down in the opposite corner so there was nothing inanimate that she could be touching. She had to know that Calista was on her other side. She had to know that there was no one and nothing else she could be touching but him.

A fire roared to life in his bloodstream, starting from the site of that one touch and igniting long-ignored passion and curiosity within him. Was she opening the door to possibility? Was he a complete lecher for even considering it? Cedric felt his ears redden and was grateful for the blustery day to blame it on.

And then her fingers twitched, almost experimentally, as the back of one finger made a minuscule, circular motion. Like she was letting him know she was there. And she _knew_ and had done it on purpose.

Cedric stared up at the clouds for distraction. He tried to see at least one of the 18 different dragons Calista had pointed out. And he smiled. And then frowned. And then smiled again.

Merlin. He was ruined…

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 **A/N This was complete teeth-pulling to write and I think it shows. I'm having the hardest time channeling my creativity recently and, rough as this is, I needed to get it out in hopes of greasing the wheels of my other stories. Here's to trying!**


	25. Chapter 25: Friday

**A/N: This pairs with** **Not Giving Up, Just Giving In** **but that story isn't required reading for this little drabble. You can thank cedfiafics for so thoughtfully reviewing each chapter of that story recently and getting it back into my head. And after you're done thanking her, go over to her page and give her stuff a read if you haven't already!  
Also, I can't remember how old I made Sofia in that story and I don't feel like looking it up. Soooo mid-twenties!**

Friday  
 _mid twenties_

Cedric was coming back today. He had been gone an uncomfortably long time. Sofia had spent six months alone with a toddler and a very enthusiastically growing babe in her belly. Of course, she hadn't truly been alone. Beyond her born and unborn children, the people of the island treated her as one of their own. Her son ran, dark hair in a mop that curled around his ears, between her and the other mothers of the island. Each offered him affection or admonishment, but each comment ended with a firm kiss to his forehead and a sloppy kiss to the cheek from him in return. It caused Sofia to smile through when the women would flock to her pregnant belly, each offering their unsolicited but well-intended advice. She had an open invitation to nearly every home on the island for any meal and to help with her rambunctious son.

But even without being truly alone, Sofia missed her husband. He was an absent part of her routine and waking up alone was something she had never wanted to experience again. It was only supposed to be two weeks. Two weeks without waking up to the smell of caffe in the morning, without the afternoons spent reading together while their son took his nap, without the family walks on the beach after dinner. The thought of two weeks was manageable. She had kissed him goodbye like she would see him again in two weeks.

But his mother wasn't coping well and needed his help for longer. And then affairs of his house had to be transitioned in name to him but in function to his sister. And then the seas were too rough to travel. And then his mother couldn't bear for him to go away.

Sofia understood. Of course, she understood. She always understood. But she was tired of understanding and she wanted her husband home.

But it was Friday. It was finally Friday and Winifred had been sated and the seas were calm and the ship was pulling into the harbor. And Sofia could _see_ him. Her son tugged on her arm, but she held to him tightly until the ship was docked. When she finally let him go, he ran. She had never see him run so fast, meeting his father on pier and leaping into his arms. Sofia followed after as quickly as she could and was almost remiss to interrupt the clinging hug between father and son.

Almost.

Cedric caught her eyes and smiled before extending out his free arm to draw her in. They kissed; a soft and long awaited thing, closed mouthed and hinting of heat to come. But a third pair of lips pressed against them and broke them apart with laughter. Cedric dropped to a knee and pressed his hand to Sofia's growing belly, kissing it softly and murmuring about how much the babe had grown. He stood and took his son's hand in his. Sofia took the boy's other hand and the three walked off the pier towards their home. Sofia had to fight the urge to skip from the joy that she felt. Her heart was finally whole and full again.


	26. Chapter 26: Window

**A/N: 8000% inspired by Jessibelle811's Bits and Pieces Chapter 10: The Second Task. It flew into my head as soon as I finished reading and it wouldn't leave me alone until I got it down on paper. Also, I was scrambling for a boy name and picked Sofia's birth father. Seems like a viable option for her (at least, I'm pretty sure her birth dad's name is Birk. I can't remember exactly and don't feel like looking it up sooooo...) :)**

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Window  
 _twenty seven years old_

"But I don't _want_ to practice!"

Sofia paused in her walk in the gardens and fought back a sigh. Her son was giving his usual dissent for his piano lessons. Piano lessons that _he_ had asked for, she liked to point out to him. But after not finding instant success, as he did in so many things, Birk had grown frustrated and was starting to take it out on the instructor. At which point, the instructor had asked that a chaperone, preferable one of his parents, be present at each lesson until he, shall we say, remembered the expectations of behavior that came along side of his position in life. He wasn't in immediate line to the throne, like his cousins, but he was still a little Royal.

"You must, Birk." came her husband's voice from deeper in the room. Sofia positioned herself so she could see into the room through the window left ajar. She could see Cedric on the couch, his nose buried down into his book. She couldn't see her son, no doubt slumping on the piano bench with his exasperated teacher on a stool beside him. She could only see the back of the grand piano, but she could certainly hear his complaints.

But _why_ , father?!"

"Because," he said distantly, absorbed in his book.

"Because _why_?"

"Because you asked for the lessons."

"Well I don't want them any longer." Sofia could practically hear his arms crossing against his little chest.

"You made a commitment, son. You need to complete this series of lessons and then we can discuss whether or not you will continue on the piano. Though," he closed his book, keeping his page marked with one finger. His eyes had that endearing little twinkle to them. "I think you should."

"...why?" This request was finally less demanding, if not a little more suspicious.

"Because someday, you might want to impress someone with a special, hidden skill. And even though it's been years, maybe even decades since you sat at the piano, some impertinent person may demand your attentions. And she'll inadvertently set you up to be wildly embarrassed in a public display and you'll need to do _something_ impressive that she and no one else expects. And so you'll think that you want to surprise her, though you can't figure out exactly why. And you'll have a piano brought into the ballroom in front of far too many people. And you'll sit down at it and play and sing for her pleasure and accidentally-on-purpose win her heart."

Cedric's eyes were no longer staring at his son. They were locked with Sofia's as she lingered by the window. She smiled at him, closed lipped and a little smug. But her eyes were warm and filled with love. He really would never let her live it down, not that she had any regrets.

"...Ew. I definitely don't want to keep practicing, now."

Cedric let out a laugh and shook his head. "Sit up straight, Birk. Get through this semester of learning and then we'll talk." He opened his book again and sat back in the comfort of the couch as Birk let out a heavy sigh and began to plunk at the ivory keys again.


	27. Chapter 27: Journal

**A/N: I picture this story as based within a plot that the evil league of magic users has been laying to take over the Kingdoms for YEEEARS ever since the whole Medusa stone thing didn't work out. Cedric threw himself into the middle of it and held back his change of heart for years upon years, doing what he had to in order to for him and Enchancia to survive and thrive until finally he was 'caught,' even though being caught wasn't a surprise for him. Sofia, who was starting to love him, is infuriated and betrayed and hurt and ready to accept punishment as her father sees fit.**

 **I can actually see this tying into the drabble "Favorite" in some way, shape or form. Maybe one day.**

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* * *

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Journal  
 _twenty one years old_

Sofia had the journal. It was done. Cedric had given it to her, begging her to read it - the last favor he would ever ask of her. She had taken it and left and Cedric held no certainty that he would see her again.

It's what he would deserve.

Years of deception and manipulation and sacrifice to protect Enchancia. To protect _her_. It was all documented in that thrice-damned book. Sofia could take it to her father and Cedric would be strung up within the hour with no trial and no sympathy. Selfishly, he hoped that she would be able to read between the lines. He wanted to live. He wanted...He wanted things that he had forbidden himself in service of the greater good. And look where that had led him.

It didn't matter. Cedric had long ago thrown away the idea of living. His time here in the cells was just a formality to a conclusion he had come to nearly three years prior. The contents of the journal were always going to lead him here. Beaten, bloodied, and locked away where no one would ever know what he had given, and what he had lost, to protect the Kingdom.

It was the next chapter that held his life in its balance. For the first time since the plot began, Cedric didn't know what was coming next. It was a relief, in a way. Knowing is a burden. At least, knowing is a burden after you develop a conscious.

Time passed. Cedric let himself pass out from the pain for a while. When he woke, it was to the whisper of bare feet on stone floors.

"Why?" Sofia's voice softly broke the silence with less of a question and more of a demand for an answer. Cedric turned his head to face her, staring up at her from where he lay on his belly on the ground.

"Why what?" His voice was rougher than he knew it to be; dry and graveley.

"Why _me_?" She crouched down, balancing herself with a hand wrapped around one of the rungs of his cage.

Cedric closed his eyes, thanking the known and unknown gods silently that Sofia was clever and careful and kind.

"You are the only person to make me feel like just being me was enough." He reached his hand out to touch hers. She didn't flinch away. He looked up at her and there was caution in her face, but somewhere behind that, there was hope, too. "Because you didn't deserve what was coming. Because someone had to fall to keep you protected and," his drawn face stretched out into a wry smile, "I didn't have very far to fall."

Sofia fell forward to her knees and took his hand in both of hers.

"You've done terrible things. Terrible things for the right reasons, but terrible nonetheless."

Cedric looked at her unblinkingly. "I would do them again if the result was the same."

She held tightly to his hand and refused to break his gaze.

"We'll have to run. Far and away."

"As long as you're safe."

Sofia reached into her sleeve and withdrew Cedric's family wand with a look of mingled deviousness and resolve as she held the wand out to him.

"I'm always safe with you."


	28. Chapter 28: Pattern

Pattern  
 _(Inadvertent Companion to Beloved, Chapter 19)  
_ _sixteen years old_

"The tense has changed."

Cedric looked up from the book he held open with one hand. He was sitting in a chair beside Sofia's bed. His free hand was resting on the bed, pressed up against Sofia's arm. It was an offer of puritanical physical comfort that Violet had pointedly ignored when she had returned with a tea service several hours earlier. But they hadn't moved. Sofia fell in and out of wakefulness, silent until just now.

Cedric mentally marked the page number of his book and shut it quietly, laying it across his lap. He leaned towards Sofia slightly, listening. Sofia didn't shift. She stared somewhere beyond Cedric's shoulder, her face unnaturally blank.

"Everyone was referring to her wishes. What she wanted. What she would have wanted…" Her voice was hollow. "They were saying what she wants. She wants tea with breakfast. She _wants_ but then they started saying what she want _ed_ and I couldn't I just couldn't I couldn't listen to it anymore."

Sofia's eyes flashed to Cedric's, hungry for something he couldn't name. Instinct made him take her hand in his, his fingers laced between hers. She squeezed his hand as if it was the last thing tying her to earth as her sorrow tried to pull her away. Her voice was a tiny thing when she spoke again.

"I know she's gone, but she should still be present tense. I still feel her here. She's still...she still _is_ , to me."

"It's how people try and move on," Cedric comforted patiently. "That's not to say it's wrong or right, but that's the pattern they fall into. Death follows life as surely as the moon follows the sun."

Sofia looked at Cedric, her eyes swollen and tired as she weighed his words.

"But just because she died doesn't mean she's gone. It doesn't mean she no longer is. We don't know what happens to the soul after death. There's no guarantee that she is only past tense, now. She may still…. _be_. Death is only the end if we assume that the story ends with our physical bodies; if we assume that the story is just about us."

Sofia leaned closer to Cedric, her forehead practically touching his.

"You promise?" she asked in a hoarse whisper just for his ears.

"I promise."

Sofia's body shook with one, wracking sob and she fell forward into Cedric's arms. He held her there, somewhat awkwardly because of her higher position in the bed and his in the chair, and rubbed slow, sympathetic circles across her back. After a few minutes, Sofia pushed back from him and resettled into her pillows, pulling her blankets up to her chin.

"I'm a little hungry."

Cedric stood up in a fluid motion and walked across the room to the rope that tied to a bell in the kitchens. He gave it a little tug and then walked back to his chair beside the bed. He opened his book and found his arm resting on the bed again in the same position it had held for hours. He was pleasantly surprised at the hum of happiness around his heart when he felt Sofia's arm press beside his.

"Would you read it aloud, please?"

Cedric smiled. "Of course."

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 **A/N: I sincerely apologize, but Riches is going to be delayed. The chapter has been written for two weeks but my beta has had something very important and very personal come up so it won't be done for a while yet. I hope it'll be out before the end of October. If not, you'll be getting two chapters in November. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding and hopefully I'll be able to tide you over with Caveat and Drabbles :)**


	29. Chapter 29: Bow

Bow  
 _twenty five years old_

"Do you have any last words?"

Sofia stood regally tall on the gallows, her chin lifted high to keep it from touching the rope around her neck. It was yet to be pulled uncomfortably tight, allowing her to speak. Sofia stared down from the gallows platform into unyielding amber-brown eyes. Her mouth stayed decidedly closed.

"Please don't make me do this, Sofia. Just bow to me. It will be nothing but a formality. Things can stay exactly as they are."

"I will not bow to a Queen who wears a crown studded with the jewels of every life she has ended."

Amber's hand unconsciously flew to the crown that delicately sat upon her golden waves of hair. When she realized what she had done, she whipped her hand back down to her side in a fist.

"You're a fool, Sofia. Your rebellion is nothing. Yes, yes I know of it. I've known about it all along. I ignored it, for you. Because I love you. You're all that's left of mother. I'm all that's left of father."

"Whose fault is that?!" Sofia snapped back, unable to maintain her calm collection.

"I did what I had to do! You weren't there. You were off, away, like you always were! I did what I had to do."

Sofia could see the flash of jealousy, of madness, behind her sister's expression. She tried to bite back her tongue, but her own anger made it impossible.

"Is that what you told James when you locked him away?"

"DO NOT SPEAK HIS NAME TO ME!" Amber's voice, shrill and enraged, echoed around the chamber. Her thumb picked at the scabbed-over cuticles of her other hand, blood beginning to flow around her nail. She looked down, trying to come to a decision.

"I tried. I gave her chances," she murmured, her voice barely audible to Sofia. "But we did what we had to and she - I know, I know. You gave her one last chance and look what she said. She knows. She knows too much. You don't have another choice. She knows. And it has to end."

Amber's eyes darted up to the man who held the rope on the gallows stand.

"Do it."

Amber turned and walked from the room as the rope tightened around Sofia's neck. She drew her bound hands to her neck, trying to wiggle a space for her fingers between her skin and the rope as the floor dropped out from below her. She would have screamed if she had any access to her windpipe. It was pure luck that her neck hadn't snapped. And her will to survive was strong.

Sofia kicked her legs in the air, causing her body to swing back and forth in her fight to find something, anything for her feet to find purchase on. The gown Amber had trussed her up in for her murder was cumbersome and heavy, making it harder and harder to move. Sofia's body was begging her to take in a breath as stars started to erupt in her vision. Her hands were starting to feel weak. They dropped away from the small allowance of space they had made for her. The stars were starting to fade into blackness as her legs kicked with less and less energy.

Something snapped. Sofia was certain it was her neck finally giving in. She felt pleasantly weightless for a moment before colliding with something hard. Death. Surely it was her collision with death as life left her body and her soul tried to pass over to the other side.

Strong arms pulled her up from the doorway to the afterlife and Sofia felt an odd sense of loss. She was limp again, weightless with something hard pressing into her stomach.

"Fool," a familiar voice said. So familiar, but so far away. It was the last thing she heard before Sofia faded away, lost somewhere between unconsciousness and eternity.

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* * *

.

 **A/N: A big thanks to Jessibelle811 for sending along the prompt that started this story.**

 **This has become a story of it's own! Find it on my main ff page titled "Fidelity." Thank you for reading!**


	30. Chapter 30: Wonder

Wonder  
 _twenty two years old  
_ **Rated T. Nothing overt, but past-tense sex is implied.** .

"It's snowing," Sofia said from the window. She had wrapped herself in a sheet and the early morning light outlined her lithe frame within the fabric. With her hair a tangled, tumbling mess down her back, she was the most beautiful sight Cedric had ever seen.

"I love it when it snows on Wassalia," he said nostalgically from the bed, pulling the quilt tighter around himself as he sat up.

Sofia turned and smiled at him, beaming. "Me, too."

Cedric opened his arms in a welcoming gesture and Sofia shuffled back into bed, nestling into him. The scent of her muddled with his was almost too much for him to believe as she molded her body against his. She let out a little hum of contentment and Cedric tried not to shudder as her ice-cold toes brushed against his legs. He pulled her closer and buried his nose into her hair and breathed in deeply, using all of his senses as he tried to memorize this moment. They stayed like that for a while, watching the snow paint the castle grounds white.

"I was hoping - wondering, that is, just wondering what your plans were tonight. This evening. After the candle lighting and the gift exchange with your family. I wouldn't want to take you away from your obligations. Not that your family is an obligation! Families can be sometimes, I know that more than most, which you know already, but even with a great relationship with your family, the things they expect of you can be exhausting on some level. The holidays can make that worse. Or better! Sometimes they make it better, lost in the nostalgia of things."

"Cedric," he could hear the smile in her voice as she pressed her hand against his chest, rescuing him from his own nervous babbling. "I would love to spend the night with you."

Lips brushed against his shoulder and Cedric felt relief wash through him. He kissed her forehead in return and pressed his back against the headboard with Sofia tucked in beside him. He let his fingers run up and down her bare arm, delighting in the pleasure of touching her bare skin.

"What time is it, anyway?" he asked, idly.

"Past eight bells."

"Sofia!" Cedric's body stiffened with anxiety. "You aren't in your bed. The entire castle is bound to be looking for you!"

"Oh, please. I'm more responsible than that. I left a note."

"A note saying what, exactly?"

"That I would be spending the night in your tower and will likely send for breakfast from within it."

"Sofia!" Cedric pushed back so he could look directly at her. Her face was alight with mischief, but honesty was reading in her eyes. He pushed back his hair, pressing his hand to his forehead. "Merlin, Sofia! I'm surprised there isn't an armed guard at the door."

"There could be," she shrugged. "But I enchanted the door when I woke up this morning. Anyone who knocks on it is struck with a sudden need to find and adopt a kitten."

A nervous laugh escaped from Cedric before Sofia gently pressed her hands against his chest and settled them both back against the headboard. And then she kissed him until he forgot that he even had a door.

.

* * *

.

 **A/N: This had about 8000 errors that I tried to go back and fix. I'm officially letting it go now, though. Errors be damned.  
Presumptuous little thing, isn't she? ;) A slightly holiday-themed piece of fluff for your Wednesday. I am *still* fighting a cold, going on a month now, with a concert in two days. Ugh. Riches Chapter 12 is well on its way. I'm still fiddling with about a 400 word section that is driving me nuts, so I thought something cheerful like this might help me along. :)**


	31. Chapter 31: Rain

Rain  
 _twenty something_

It had promised to be a beautiful party. Amber had outdone herself. But it was spring, so she had prepared for the possibility of rain. White, fabric pavilions had been raised to cover the dozens of tea tables, each set with china and sweets and finger sandwiches that no one would ever eat. The fabric had been ripped to shreds, lying awkwardly across the tables and the bodies. Only a few bodies, blessedly. The strike had come before the party was set to begin. But Sofia hadn't been able to help herself. She had come out to the garden early, admiring the work that had been done all in the name of her love. Cedric had followed her begrudgingly, a smile tucked in under his scowl as he watched her marvel at the delicately painted roses on each teacup and all of her favorite desserts piled in the center of each table.

Today was the beginning of their official, public courtship. Two short weeks ago, Sofia had fought with her father and Cedric had been willing to jump through every royal hoop. After private, familial acceptance, this engagement tea was the first step towards their marriage.

That might be over, now.

Cedric forced himself to open his eyes, forced himself to deal with reality instead of continuing to lie on the ground, flitting around consciousness. He could smell the ozone in the air from the curse that struck the garden. He could feel the rain, a side effect of the same curse, pittering in a constant rhythm on his face. He could hear the ping of the drops as they struck against the toppled china. He could see Sofia's skirts, such a pale pink they were nearly white, beside him, laden with water from the rain. Cedric got to his hands and knees, straining and aching and immediately dizzy. His reserves of power were nearly gone. He had done what he could to throw up a shield before the strike. But that magic had been instinctual and untamed without his wand, making it wild and draining. It seemed as though he had saved himself but who else? Being alive wouldn't be worth it, not if he hadn't managed to save Sofia, too. He crawled forward at the speed of frozen molasses leaving its jar, holding his breath until he could see Sofia's chest rise and fall.

She was breathing. Sofia was breathing. It was slow and sleep-like but she was alive. Still on his hands and knees, Cedric let his head fall forward and tears of relief mixed with the ever-falling rain. Somehow, he found himself sitting beside her with her sleeping form pulled up into his lap as he cradled her, rocking slowly back and forth and repeating, "she's alive, she's alive," in a quiet montra until he felt consciousness slip away and fade into dreams.

That's how the household staff, escorting a parade of noblemen and noblewomen with stylish umbrellas in hand, found them an hour later. They were alive but cold to the touch; breathing, but unable to be awoken. They were trapped in sleep by a spell meant to kill, each unable to save the other.

.

* * *

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 **A/N: and a tragic early Christmas to you, too. :P Blame Pinterest. One image of a teacup in a rain storm and my imagination took off without my permission; I was barely able to hold on until I got this onto paper (er, screen. Whatever).**


	32. Chapter 32: Darkness

Darkness  
 _nineteen years old_

The collision was a surprise. Sofia had spent most of the waking hours recently nose down in a book, desperate for distractions. She was usually better at not bumping into things, at least stationary things. From the way her body tried to bounce down and backwards, Cedric must have been moving with quick purpose when they collided. He dropped the bottle in his hand as he reached out to Sofia, sure hands gripping her arms and pulling her towards him instead of the floor. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments before the bottle hit the floor, smashing into a thousand pieces and filling the hallway with a fog of darkness.

"Damnit," the sorcerer cursed under his breath as Sofia gasped. She dropped her book and she instinctively clung to Cedric, her hands clamoring up to his forearms.

"What - "

"A new darkness powder your father requested." His voice was emotionless as he relayed the facts. "The person in control of it retains their vision. But seeing as how it was dropped, neither of us will be able to see and this hallway will be unpassable for some time."

"How much time?"

"Ten minutes, perhaps."

"Good."

"Good?" Emotion trickled back into his tone as he sounded affronted.

"You can tell me why you've been avoiding me."

Cedric scoffed and tried to cross his arms but Sofia tightened her grip. He was her anchor in this darkness, just as he had been her anchor in so many things. She couldn't let him go. He gave up his efforts quickly and let his arms fall to his sides. It was all Sofia could do not to let her hands slide down his forearms and into his hands.

"You're betrothed, Sofia. I should think avoiding you would be the obvious course of action for me. Isn't that why you've been squirreled away in the library at every opportunity?"

"I - you - "

"You're surprised that I'm being so upfront?"

"Well, y-yes," Sofia sputtered out. "You've never been - getting the truth out of you, finding out how you felt about me. It took years! Years and now you're just, you're just -" Her breath was coming more and more quickly as she realized how upset she was, further exaggerated by how calm he seemed to be. "You wasted so much time and now - _now_ you choose to be direct?!"

Cedric's arms lifted and wrapped around her, pulling her form flush with his. She could feel the heat of his breath alighting her ear as he pressed his cheek against hers. Her hands flew up to find familiar homes running into his hair and pressed against his back. He pressed his lips against her cheek. She could feel him trembling slightly. Or was that her?

"It's not enough…" Sofia choked out, shutting her eyes tightly against the tears starting to form.

His mouth took hers and she surrendered to him, giving herself over to the passion of the moment and to the dream of the life she wanted.

"I'll speak to your father," he said, drawing back and speaking with conviction. Sofia pulled his head back down to hers and kissed him again.

"Let's run away," she begged in her next breath. "He'll never agree. He only sees treaties and alliances and trade routes when he looks at me, Cedric. He'll never - I'm trapped by - I...let's just run away."

"Oh dearheart," she felt calloused fingertips trace the outline of her cheek. "We'll make him see love."

.

* * *

.

 **A/N: Well hey there. Anybody else feel their creative juices go kaput during the holidays? Next chapter of Riches really should be up this month. If not, then early February. And the chapter after that is already basically written, so that should help things move quickly along. I SWEAR TO YOU I WILL NOT ABANDON RICHES! I just might not post as often as you/I want to.**

 **I might abandon Caveat Emptor. I have a full outline/notes written, as well as one steamy scene. I'll post all of that if I decide not to follow it through.**

 **Cause, see - things are gonna get real busy for me come June. We've got a second baby girl due to arrive on June 7. Woo! Everything is going well and she is gigantic and moves aaaall the time. Huzzah!**


	33. Chapter 33: Change

Change  
 _eight years old_

Cedric generally had trouble sleeping. There was a rarely a night that passed that didn't find him watching the sun bring the sky from the inky dark of midnight to the pale pastels of dawn. This night was no different but Cedric had found his feet to be restless. So he slid his book into his robe pocket and left his tower. He took a long, slow path through the empty hallways of the castle.

The lights were dimmed and it was pleasantly quiet. It brought Cedric back to his childhood when the castle only felt safe after its inhabitants had gone to bed. The night was the one time he was safe from judgement; from his father, his educators, the royal family. It reminded him that it wasn't this place that he hated; it was the people within it. This place needed change, change that only he could bring. And finally, the means were available to him. The Amulet of Avalor was finally out of hiding. All that stood in his way was eight year old girl.

Literally.

"Mr. Ceedric?" Princess Sofia asked, pronouncing his name incorrectly. Again.

"It's 'said-rick,'" he phonetically corrected her, immediately impatient. Her presence was a mar on his evening, a black spot against his fantasies for power and change. But then again, she wearing what would be his. The Amulet of Avalor flashed it's stunning purple light in his direction from around the girl's neck and Cedric felt a tension leave his shoulders.

"What are you doing up so late," she asked, her sickeningly sweet voice echoing softly in the empty hall.

"I should be asking you the same, child. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

The Princess blushed and dropped her eyes down to the floor, looking chastised. She muttered something under her breath that Cedric couldn't make out. He sighed heavily, crossing his arms.

"Speak up," he instructed.

Wringing her hands together, she peered up at and spoke in a voice so quiet he could barely hear her. "I've never slept in my own bed, all alone."

Cedric furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"We just had one bed, me and my mom. I-I...it's just so quiet without her…"

"You didn't have your own room? Your own bed?" Cedric didn't notice the harsh tone slip out of his voice. He knew peasants lived very different lives, but he had never put much thought into it.

Sofia shook her head, her blush now spread across most of her face.

They stood there in an uncomfortable silence for at least a minute.

"Books," Cedric finally said. Sofia peered back up at him and he was horrified to see a tear leak out of the child's eye. He cleared his throat and looked anywhere but at the little Princess. "I find reading can...help. With restless nights. The stories can take you away, calm your mind."

She sniffled and wiped away the fallen tear as she nodded. And then nightgown clad arms wrapped around him and his body stiffened uncomfortably before he peeled himself out of the girl's embrace.

"Yes, well…" he brushed his robes, though they weren't out of place. "To bed with you."

Sofia beamed up at him. "Thank you, Mr. Ceedric."

She was down the hall before he could correct her mispronunciation again. Cedric coughed and straightened his robes again and started walking in the opposite direction of the Princess. All the while, he mentally assured himself over and over again that this exchange was nothing more than a building of trust so he could manipulate the Princess out of the Amulet at a later time. It certainly wasn't a silver of true kindness, not from him.


	34. Chapter 34: Untitled

Untitled  
 _adult_

The classroom looked more like a church. Several benches were set up to face what could have once been an altar but was now more of a platform from which to teach. Sofia found it odd. The people who came here to learn generally didn't recognize a god as their master; most of them had come to know their own power too intimately to rely on anyone else.

The space was empty of people, yet so filled with energy that it was hard to feel alone. The air almost seemed to fizz and pop, stirred about by the wind breezing in through the open (broken) stained glass windows. A storm was coming. The wind told her as much as it pushed back the hood of her travel-weary cloak, igniting her senses to the smell of damp soil and the sound of footsteps clicking down the hallway.

Standing in the center of the altar with her back to the door, Sofia summoned all of her strength and channeled it into trust. Trust that she had followed the right trails. Trust that she had heeded the right people and rightfully pushed away the rest. Trust that her purpose in being here would be revealed to her after such a very long time of searching.

The footsteps passed the entrance to the room.

They stopped.

They took three steps back to the entrance.

Sofia inhaled bravery and then turned her head far enough for her chin to kiss her shoulder, eyes downcast.

Silence echoed. The wind stopped moving carelessly and came to her face, delicately lifting her chin before pushing against her shoulder to reveal more than just her profile to the person at the door. The touch was achingly familiar. Sofia dared to look up just in time to hear Cedric curse in a language she never learned. The wind retreated and closed the door behind him with absolute silence.

"You shouldn't be here." Cedric was firm. There wasn't a quaver in his voice. But even from this distance, Sofia could see the flicker of fear in his eyes.

"You let your hair grow long." Sofia's lips turned up at the corners. "I like it."

Cedric scrubbed his hand over his face. "Fuck, Sofia - pull your hood back up. You shouldn't be here."

She turned to face him fully and watched as he walked towards her, through the narrow hall the pew-like benches made.

"I like your clothes, too. It's nice to see you in a different color, though I don't think I would have chosen all black for you. You've always been so pale and this just washes you out."

He was in front of her. He was so close she could reach out and touch him. But she didn't get the chance before his hands were reaching out with a perfunctory attitude to pull her hood back over her head, tucking away her hair so quickly that she barely registered how cold his fingers were when they grazed her neck. His hand was on her lower back and he was moving them forward, eyeing the windows like they might attack.

Sofia stopped in place. "No, Cedric. I'm not leaving not without - "

Cedric's hand was more insistent than her feet, pushing her along with him without breaking his stride. "Anyone could see you and if they don't kill you on sight, you'll wish they had. Come on."

"Ced-"

He whirled on her, hands digging into her shoulders as his gaze bore into her eyes. Fear, rage, frustration, exhaustion all threatened to crush her.

"No matter how many times you come to find me," he hissed in a whisper that might as well have been a scream to her ears. "No matter how much good you think is still in my heart, no matter how much you loved me or how much I love you - I am a bad man, Sofia. I have done terrible things. I will do terrible things. This can never be and you need to give up onme and move on with your life."

"Love," Sofia whispered back. She was met with confusion.

"Love?"

"You said love. Not _loved_."

Fear, rage, frustration, and exhaustion were all gone. Replaced with nothing but pain. Cedric's grip on her shoulders loosened and tightened several times as he seemed to battle himself. And then he slid his hands up into her hair, delicately holding the back of her skull. His forehead came down to rest against hers in a motion closer to resignation than affection.

"Please," came his voice, quietly begging. "Please leave me here."

"Cedric," came a deep voice from the doorway.

"Fuck," whispered Cedric against Sofia's temple as his entire body tensed. His hands dropped down to his side as he turned to face the doorway, keeping Sofia's body tucked behind his. She pressed her hand to his back for security, for confidence, for strength.

"Tell me about your little pet."

Sofia couldn't see the face of the newcomer, but she could practically hear his feral grin.

* * *

 **A/N  
HELLOOOOOOOO I LIIIIIIIVE**  
 **In celebration of my 10 week old sleeping for 8 hours and then taking a 1.5 hour afternoon nap (bless her), I wrote y'all this drabble. I like it. I have no idea if I'll follow up with it but I might. I also have no idea what prompted it in my head, outside of my latest trash pairing that I've been reading A LOT of (because what else am I gonna do while nursing) - Reylo from Star Wars. I really like this idea that some writers have in that Kylo/Ben doesn't get redeemed. That he's a bad guy and he's not going to get better. That definitely played a part here.**

 **Regretfully, please don't take this as a sign that I'm back. I'm not. But I'm gonna write as I can. Happy reading!**


	35. Chapter 35: I am the dark lord who

I am the dark lord who stole away the bride of spring  
 _age: young adult (legal)_

"How can you not see how this looks?"

Cedric flew across the small cottage to the open window, reaching out to slam the shutters closed and murmuring a spell under his breath to keep the wind and rain from eeking in.

"You'll catch a dreadful cold if you stay in those wet things, Cedric." Sofia replied evenly as she made her way to the fire he had started the moment they entered the cottage. She shed his fine robe, drenched, from her shoulders and laid it beside the hearth. Her dress, a delicate blue thing, clung to her legs but otherwise she had been kept quite dry by Cedric's gallant offering.

"You were the farthest thing from subtle and taking us here, of all places." He had moved on from the windows to sealing the door before hurrying over to fill a kettle with water pouring out from the tip of his wand.

"Perhaps I'm through with being subtle." Her glare was heated as he approached the fire and, subsequently, Sofia. Her hands quickly fell to his vest as she began to free him from his buttons.

"Gah! No!" Cedric batted her hands away and put the kettle between them. "Wench! I won't think if you start in on that."

"I just don't want you to fall ill!"

"You know exactly what you're doing and you're doing it because you don't want to discuss this."

"Discuss what?"

Cedric's shoulders dropped, the fight falling from his posture.

"Your engagement."

"My _father's_ engagement."

"I'm under the impression that your father is quite happily married to your mother."

"Cedric," Sofia fixed him with a glare, chastising him with her tone. "This was never something I agreed to."

"And yet here you are! Here _we_ are! Here _I_ am looking like -"

"Like a man in love?"

"Like Hades stealing away Persephone!"

Sofia huffed lightly. "I always believed she ate the seeds on purpose."

Cedric stepped around the woman, and finally set the kettle above the fire to heat. He stared at it, avoiding Sofia's gaze.

"There you go with your optimism again."

Sofia came to stand beside him, curling her body against his until he came to wrap his arms around her. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

"This is such a mess," he sighed into her rain-damp curls.

"It doesn't have to be," came her voice, muffled against his chest. They reclined from their embrace until each could see the other's eyes. "Marry me?"

Cedric leaned down and kissed her forehead in a gentle dismissal. Sofia planted her palms on his chest and pushed him away from her. She ripped the chain she wore from around her neck and clung to the charm, the ring, at its end.

"Does this mean nothing to you?"

"No - yes. Yes, Sofia you know it does."

"Did you not mean it when you asked me to marry you?"

"No, no of course not. But things were different. Things have changed."

"You don't love me anymore?"

"You know that's not true."

"Then why not?! Marry me!" If Sofia attempted not to sound like a petulant child, she failed in this moment. Cedric stared down at her, unmoving. Lacking any response, Sofia pulled the chain through the ring until it was free and slid the ring down onto her ring finger. Cedric reached for her, trying to stop her but it was too late. The ring swirled magic around her finger and followed the bloodline that traced from that finger straight to her heart. It was a warm thing when it sighed into her, locking her fate to Cedric's in an instant.

Sofia stared down at the ring and then at Cedric, who wore something between agony and anger on his face.

"There was a reason I asked you to wear it on a chain."

"I - I thought - "

"Yes, that's clear, now, that you _thought_ I was somehow ashamed of us." There was a cold tinge in his voice. "While I was wary and I might have been nervous to be so publicly yours and you so publicly mine, that ring - a sorcerer's wife - there's more to it than to just be an object worn."

Sofia brought her thumb across her palm to spin the ring in place. It didn't budge.

"I'm afraid, love, whether or not you were truly ready, you're mine, now."

A bolt of lightning seemed to strike down Sofia's spine at the sound of Cedric's possession of her.

"But that's good, right? You love me."

"It's not your choice, anymore." His eyes were dark, his lips pressed into a line. He reached out across the space to barely trace the line of her jaw, her throat. Sofia practically purred. "Nor is it mine."

* * *

 **A/N: *attempts to move old achy writing joints* oil….can…!**

 **And Greek myths! Because Cleo's kingdom basically looks like Greece sooooo...**


	36. Chapter 36: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild  
 _age: 25ish_

The color bloomed almost prettily. His tunic was far and away from the original pristine white, but the fabric still soaked in the red like a drop of tea would slowly spread and stain a glove. Back when civilized things like gloves to demonstrate chastity and gatherings of those chaste young women at tea parties with elaborate pastries were dalliances that could be allowed. Those times were gone; fallen away to dust. Stabbed through with a knife.

Or an arrow.

The arrowhead glinted at Sofia in the harsh light as she starred up at it dumbly. It had been flying to strike her. A second before, she had accepted that it would hit and shut her eyes, ready to accept the pain. But with the _thwump_ of the arrow hitting came no pain. She looked up and locked her gaze on the arrow, suspended in a chest that hovered over her so she was there to see a second arrow fly true. Strong arms caged her in, keeping her safe as the sound of the battlefield suddenly roared back into her ears.

Scrambling up from her prone position on her stomach, Sofia reached out her hand to gentle touch his cheek.

"James…" she breathed. Her eyes darted between the stain on his chest growing larger and larger across the fabric and his eyes. They were almost mirthful, consciously clouding over his pain.

"You gotta go, Sof," he gritted out. The rough edge to his voice awakened Sofia's inner panic.

"Oh gods, _James_!" Her other hand found his other cheek, framing his face as he went from one knee to two. "What did you do? What did you do?"

"Kept you safe, little sister." The pain wasn't hidden in his eyes any longer. Sofia pressed her forehead to his. It was a shock when another set of arms wrapped around her waist and started pulling her backward. She fought against the grip.

"Let me go! No! James -"

"Don't let his sacrifice be in vain, Sofia." Cedric's voice filled her ear with an edge of command, his body safely wrapped around hers. Sofia stopped fighting and felt herself fill with agony, unable to tear her gaze away from James as he pushed himself up standing with a roar of pain and adrenaline. He drew his shield up from the ground as he stood and drew his sword from his hip, reading to face the onslaught of foes and give his family precious seconds more to flee.

* * *

 **A/N: I saw a Breath of the Wild (Legend of Zelda) fan art with Link crouching over Zelda having taken several arrows to his back and it made me think of James standing over Sofia. In my head cannon, Sofia is pregnant and she and Cedric have been married and, well, lots of other things but they weren't necessary to the blip of the story here. Happy Wednesday!**


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